Chapter 3: Flying Visit

Bella Swan had her bony arms folded across her chest and was armed with her most intimidating scowl when I spotted her at the airport. It was the second angriest I'd ever seen her, the angriest being when I had broken Andew Davies' nose for talking down to her- a moment I still stand by. The things he'd said to her still make my skin crawl. But I sagged in relief just to see her standing there now, safe and healthy.
Charlie lingered beside her, slightly more stiff and awkward than usual. He wasn't in any way accustomed to seeing angry Bells so he was probably in a small state of shock. When our eyes met, he relaxed a little but I wasn't sure if that was because he was happy to see me or relieved Bella might finally just get it all out of her system and calm down.

"You've found your family?"

Kate was watching me with amused curiosity. She had graciously paid for the four hour flight to Seattle and the one-hour flight to Port Angeles when it had finally occurred to me that I barely had enough cash on me to buy a soda after going to the cinema with Tuck and Kyle. Level-headedness in crisis was one of those traits Bells had inherited from Charlie that Renée's genes have left me completely devoid of and the sharp reminder of that in the airport had reddened my cheeks a little. Kate had laughed right in my face.

She was a welcome distraction in the airports and both the flights. The journey didn't feel as long as it should have when I was nursing the information that my twin sister could have been in the hospital wasting away if she wasn't already locked away in the morgue. Kate's ice-cold touches had constantly lured me away from all whirlpools of negative thoughts. It began first with gentle brushes of our shoulders until eventually my arms had become acquainted with her in them and my lips naturally sought hers. Even now, with Bella in running distance, my hands found Kate.

"Thank you. I owe you my life."

"I'll be back to claim it then," she promised with her heart stopping grin. The unnerving chill that I had felt the first time I met Kate started creeping up my neck but I smiled warmly back at her. The foreboding thought that I'd just signed my soul to a beautiful demon flickered across my mind. "But for now, I've got people to see."

"Are you sure you don't want a ride? We're going to Forks anyways."

"I'm sure. They're already here."

She pointed over my shoulder and when I turned around, I recognised her family immediately. The pair shone through the crowd like diamonds amongst pebbles, their pale skin glowing like lanterns. The man had a halo of blonde hair wrapped neatly around his head, an impossibly gentle smile spread across his handsome face. Holding his hand was the epitome of an elegant but warm hug, a heart-shaped face framed by cascading waves of soft caramel. Her lips were curled into a dainty smile as she and her partner greeted Charlie and Bella. With their unparalleled beauty, they seemed like faces one could never forget. I absentmindedly followed Kate towards them, wondering if all of her family members were unnaturally attractive.

"Carlisle, Esme, thank you for making the journey," I heard Kate say warmly as I launched myself at Bella.

My other half refused to open her arms to accept my hug but it didn't make much of a difference. My long arms snaked around her with ease and I hoisted her from the ground and into my chest. Her hands grabbed my jumper to steady herself.

"What are you doing here, CJ?"

"Bella, when you knew I heard you'd been in an accident did you really expect me to stay away?" I murmured into her ear. I felt her anger visibly dissipate as she sagged against me, sliding down my chest until her trainers found the floor again. She kept one hand clenching my jumper.

"It wasn't as bad as it sounds," she grumbled.

"Really?" I scrutinised her from head to toe, lifting her chin and patting her sides. "Seems like you luckily got away with minimal injuries."

I tapped the plaster on her head and she flinched. With a frown, she shook her chocolate curls over her face in an attempt to hide the evidence from me. It was a meagre attempt and she knew it. Only once in her life had Bella ever succeeded in keeping something from me and that was that my summer English assignment wasn't due until the second week back at school, not the last week of summer vacation like she had told me. I'd never been so prepared with an assignment until that week.

Charlie was being introduced to Kate when my attention turned to the angelic strangers. They smiled at me, the man's eyes moving slowly between Bella and I. His gaze hesitated on her for the briefest of seconds, like he was trying to figure something out, but it moved just as quickly as it had stopped.

"I don't think we've met," I greeted, offering the lady my hand first. She seemed more welcoming than he did. Something about him unsettled me, like when I had first seen Kate. They were too gorgeous. She was beautiful as well but there was something more natural about her at least. "I'm CJ Swan, Bella's twin brother."

"It's nice to meet you," she replied with an impossibly nicer smile than before. "My name's Esmé Cullen. This is my husband, Carlisle."

"Nice to meet you," I lied as his and my hands touched, his familiarly icy skin raising the hairs on the back of my neck.

"It's very nice to meet you too, CJ," he said. "I had only just found out that Bella had a brother. I will admit, you're not what I expected."

"Taller than you imagined?" I grinned despite my discomfort and he let out a breathy laugh.

"Exponentially."

Esmé and Carlisle shared an amused glance before finally putting Kate and I's relationship into question.

"We're close friends," Kate lied with a knowing grin. Carlisle and Esmé probably knew her well enough to privately interrogate her later but Charlie and Bella were none the wiser. Was it really a lie though? We'd certainly become some sort of close on the journey. "We were together when Renée rang CJ about the accident so I drove him to the airport. It just so happened I was planning to visit Carlisle and Esmé and decided to come with him."

"That was very nice of you," Charlie said sincerely from beneath his moustache.

"Didn't you need to get anything, if you were coming all the way to Forks?" Bella blurted.

A new smile slipped across Kate's face, a wry smile. She seemed amused that Bella had tried to catch her out but was not intimidated. It was like watching a lioness open an eye at an annoying cub.

"I sent my clothes ahead when I decided to visit. I don't like baggage weighing me down."

Carlisle summoned our attention with a soft clap of his hands and smoothly excused himself and his family- his children were eager to meet their cousin again. I blinked when I realised there were more of them. Carlisle and Esmé's children had to be models too.

Bella's eyes followed the Cullens until they were out of sight and then some more. It wasn't until I slung my arm around her that she tore her eyes away. She smiled distractedly up at me until she remembered where we were and she pushed me in the ribcage.

"I still can't believe you came because I got a scratch on my forehead."

"Oi, it's not because you got a scratch on your forehead." I pinched her cheek and she swatted my hand away like a cat. " It's how you got the scratch on your forehead. How could I stay still when I'd heard my dearest littlest sister was in an accident?"

"By listening to the details and realising that I was perfectly fine?"

I pouted and clutched my heart with a faux sob.

"You mean you were perfectly fine without me this past week? Was it just me who felt utterly hopeless alone?"

Bella's chocolate curls bounced around her ghostly pale face as she shook her head, chewing her bottom lip exactly how she always did when she felt nervous or bad.

"You know I didn't mean it like that," she sighed.

I did know. The act was as much drama as it was a true show of my feelings. I really wasn't confident that Bella had missed me that much while I was gone- she was so independent in a way that I just wasn't. It was like she forgot about everyone that wasn't in her immediate environment. But I wasn't like that. Every minute, every hour I had thought about Bella and worried about Bella and missed Bella. I'd never be able to say with full confidence that, even though I knew it wasn't consciously done, I wasn't even a little hurt that Bella didn't miss me as much as I had missed her.

I settled for crushing her in another hug and pressing a kiss into her hair.

"I missed you, Bells." I flashed a grin at my lingering police-chief father who was torn about where to look. "You too, Dad."

Charlie nearly jumped when I addressed him. He nodded stiffly with his eyes a little wide and risked a pat on my shoulder even though he had to reach.

"You too, Junior."

The grimace contorted my face faster than I could catch it. Bella laughed under her breath, turning to stroll to wherever they'd parked.

"Not that again. I thought we'd gotten past this, Chief."

"Gotten past what?"

"Junior," Bella and I replied in dry unison.

Charlie had only been stubborn about three things when we were growing up- seeing us as much as he could, still being in love with Mom and calling me Junior. Charlie Swan was at his most talkative when approached with the subject of the 'J' in CJ. It was a never ending argument between the three of us- Renée was too lighthearted to really care when it was "just a name" but Bella hated it as much as I did. Maybe it was a twin thing.

The bickering continued until we reached the car and I realised how hungry I was. I spent the entire hour-journey to Forks talking about food and by the time Charlie turned the engine off, Bella had taken my dinner order ten times over. I was not wasting any opportunity for her cooking while I was in Forks.

Charlie's house was the same as it had always been- two storeys, white, dewey, sad. But the street was lined with something new and unfamiliar- a monsterous, faded red truck that must've been made in the sixties judging by the fenders and the cab. I recognised Bella and I's car from her description immediately- a survivor.

"Damn, Billy must've been crying letting this go," I whistled. "I haven't decided if it was happiness or sadness but either way he was crying. Thanks, Chief."

Charlie's cheeks tinged pink beneath his beard and he cleared his throat as he started up the front steps of the house.

"I'm glad you like it."

The truck's roars quietened with a sudden jolt as I parked it in the lot of Forks High School. The school was surprisingly small and homely in comparison to the one in Phoenix. Red-bricks appeared in patches between the density of trees and shrubs that surrounded the school, a sight that would never be seen in Phoenix. I liked it. It seemed much less like a prison for learning and more like a hideaway for socialising. A hideaway with rules and teachers but it was cool nonetheless.

Bella hopped out of the cab with a thanks and a goodbye, shutting the door with a clunk behind her. I couldn't help but laugh as I climbed out the driver's side. I don't know which she recognised first my laughter or the sound of the cab door closing but she whipped around with raised eyebrows.

"You didn't think I was just driving you to school this morning did you? Aww Bells, you're so cute," I cackled, throwing my arms around her and squishing her to my chest. "Of course I'm coming with you."

"You're coming with me?"

"Yes, dearest Bella. I called the school yesterday while you were moaning about everyone forcing you to take the day off and they happily agreed to let me sit in your classes for the day."

No one in their right mind was going to say no to the Chief Police's worried son, especially not when he was preparing to move to Forks. Admittedly, I had ulterior motives. I was concerned about Bells as always and curious to see what her school life had been without me but Bells' story about the accident had left me with a sense of uneasiness.

"So you're just going to follow me around all day?"

"Pretty much."

I flashed my sister a grin and rested my hand over her further shoulder, somewhat aware of the curious eyes following us. Bella shrank into my side at all the attention and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. Even if it had only been a week, I had missed her so much and it was so reassuring that she hadn't changed.

Like a swarm of mosquitos to a pool of blood, Bella's newfound friends rushed towards us and began a spitfire round of questions about her and her condition. Questions faded to introductions after an awkward pause: Jessica, Lauren, Angela, Mike, Eric and Tyler. Tyler was the one I'd heard most about and one of the two people I had been most interested in meeting at Forks High School. He was the driver that nearly killed the most important person in my life.

"You're not what I expected when Bella said she had a twin brother," Lauren giggled. Everyone murmured in agreement with her as their eyes washed over me.

"Yeah we don't really look alike," I laughed. "Bells looks like Dad and I look like Mom."

"How tall even are you?"

"How's the weather up there?"

"When are you moving to Forks?"

"Hey, want to join the basketball team?"

That was how most of my conversations had gone since I had walked onto the school grounds. It was as though everyone had been handed a 'CJ Swan Welcome Package' and could only select one of the five lines to interact with me. I was about to ask Bells if there was a place we could creep off to for lunch break so we could actually have some time together - anytime I sat down somewhere Bells was all but shoved out of the way for someone else to slide in beside me (usually Lauren) - when I saw the second person I was most interested in meeting.

I recognised Edward Cullen the moment my eyes landed on him. He was exactly how I had pictured him from Bella's descriptions and my expectations as Kate's relative. He seemed to know I was looking at him because he immediately met my eyes. We only broke eye-contact long enough for me to excuse myself from Bella's side and I made a bee-line straight for him. He waited, watching me with blank eyes.

There were two reasons I wanted to talk to Edward Cullen. The first was genuine: I wanted to thank him for saving my sister's life. Without him, I would've been in Forks to watch her be lowered six-feet deep. The second reason I wanted to talk to Edward Cullen was a little less sincere. While Bella had explained the accident to me, she hadn't gone into much detail about Edward but the way her eyes almost glazed over when she talked about him spoke volumes. For the first time in her life, Bella was thinking about a guy. I wasn't sure what kind of thinking she was doing yet, but I was keen to speak to Edward to see what he was like for myself.

That being said, I had no plan. I was just walking toward him before I knew it. A part of me hated him already, hated that she owed her life to him and that she seemed so fixated on him. Bells was like a moth to a flame with the boy as far as I could tell… or maybe a dog with a bone was a better analogy. She hadn't gone into much detail yet but I knew she thought something was up about the guy, about his whole family. Couldn't say I didn't agree after meeting Kate and Edward's parents but Edward gave me worse hee-bee-jeebees than Carlisle. He was sitting there like a depressed lord-almighty, disinterested in everything going on around him but acting like he knew everything. I fancied I could take him in a fight, not that I had any intention of starting one. I was just going to introduce myself- there, a plan at last!

"Hey, Edward, right? I've heard about you from my sister, Bella. I just wanted to come over and say thanks. Y'know, for saving her life. " I extended my hand towards him. His met mine in the middle and, as expected, he was ice cold. He seemed to momentarily consider standing to greet me but he didn't so I made myself comfortable at the table. Everyone at the table had gone quiet so I offered them each my hand. "You guys must be Rosalie, Alice, Emmett and Jasper. Kate told me about you guys on our flight here. It's nice to meet you all. "

"She told us a little about you too when we saw her last night," the one I assumed to be Alice chirped. Her angled haircut, unusual combination of clothes and interlocked fingers with the guy who looked like he was in pain was her giveaway. She was the only one Kate had described in detail (except Edward because I had asked) because she had said Alice and I would get along the best. Why she thought that I hoped to find out.

"I think I'll be in your art class, Alice. Hope you're good at it because I'm going to need all the advice I can get."

Alice's smile was warm.

"I'd be more than happy to help. I have great artistic vision." Rosalie fired daggers in Alice's direction but the spritely girl ignored her sister. "When do you start school here?"

"About three weeks from now. Running a bit behind Bella because I have to play this baseball game back in Phoenix."

Emmett and Jasper perked up.

"You play baseball?"

"Sure do."

"Are you any good at it?"

"I'd like to say I'm alright at it."

"You're being modest." Emmett's smirk was so big it looked as though it would split his face in half. "But you're definitely nowhere near as good as me."

I could feel my mouth stretch into a smirk that rivalled Emmett's.

"Oh yeah? Well, I won't have time on this trip but when I move down we'll definitely have to put that to the test!"

Emmett and I high-fived on it before I left though I definitely heard Rosalie give out to him for it. She seemed keen on keeping her distance from everyone else at school, perhaps having decided her family was all she needed, but it probably had more to do with the fact that, despite having zero blood relation, the Cullen- Hale family were all remarkably similar and dissimilar. I filed the thought away for another day as I approached a table full of curious faces.

"What was that?" Bella half-choked her words out. Most at the table had their eyes wide with surprise like Bells had. "You're friends with the Cullens all of a sudden?"

"I just figured I'd say hi considering I flew over with Kate and met their parents last night. Felt like it'd be rude to not say anything."

"So you just walked over to them?" Jessica asked half-incredulously.

"Should I not have? Do they dislike that or something?"

"Well yeah. They hardly talk to anyone at this school but then you come and you're all buddy-buddy with them?!"

"I think everyone just means that they kind of keep to themselves," Angela explained softly. She was already my favourite out of Bella's friends and, if not for the blatant attraction between her and one of the guys, I would have had a different sort of attraction for her. "It's nice that you're friendly with them though. Not many people try to talk to them anymore."

It took a while for the conversation to change topic but thanks to my, Bella and Angela's hard work it did eventually move on from the Cullen - Hales. Before I knew it, lunch was over and I was back to being bored out of my skull in all of Bella's AP math and science classes. Very kindly, Edward Cullen offered his seat to me beside Bella for biology but I gratefully declined. I fancied sitting at the back of class having absolutely nothing to do. Nothing to do but sharply observe my sister and her saviour.