Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Have you ever stared out of your bedroom window while it was raining outside and thought ‘wow, I wish I was laying on the ground in the middle of the garden right now’?

Obviously I have, multiple times. Since coming to Forks it didn’t come from a dark place anymore. Instead of wishing for death caused by pneumonia I only wished for a nice shot.

I contemplated actually doing it. My fingers tapped my new camera as my brain already thought of all the possibilities. Let’s be real, was it even really a question? Before I thought about it too long my legs already took off down the stairs. I only stopped briefly to jump into Charlie’s rain boots and rain coat.

“Be back in a few!” I shouted before I closed the front door behind myself, not hearing Charlie’s response.

I didn’t waste any time. I dropped unceremoniously on my knees first before flipping myself over on my back. The cold and wet pavement kept my mind awake and fresh. The rain dropping on my face felt like a nice massage. Maybe I needed to talk to my therapist about this to make sure it wasn’t some lowkey cry for help. I hadn’t met my therapist in Forks yet since I had only been there for a week and they weren’t even in Forks but in the next city over. I briefly wondered if my truck would be able to get me there.

I turned the -thankfully water proof- camera on then. All thoughts moved to the back to the back of my mind after that.

I ended up moving around a lot. The rain made place for the perfect photoshoot. As I stood up from under a large branch I started to shiver. I didn’t know how long I had been running and laying around in the rain but my body apparently had started to reach its limits.

Since I did the self-care thing and went back inside.

I hesitated to go back in though, considering I probably looked like a neglected stray cat. The camera felt heavy hanging around my neck.

Once I opened the door I realised there was no need for hesitation. Charlie was already there, a towel in his arms. I wasn’t sure I was actually crying or it was rain droplets falling down my cheeks. Probably both.

Before properly thinking about I hugged him. Charlie hugged me back, no hesitation. He did usher me to the bathroom not long after that, muttering about catching a cold.

Standing in the hot shower got me thinking.

I was lucky that I moved to Forks during spring break. It gave me some time to get used to the new environment. Honestly, I was surprised to see how fast I got used to the awfully rainy place. Maybe it wasn’t the best choice seeing I’m someone that’s sensitive to depression. That’s what the camera and the therapist are for.

Maybe making some friends would help also.

Healthy sleep patterns, as healthy as possible food, staying hydrated, exercise, have a creative hobby, therapy,…I already – sort of – got a balance on those. Social contact was something I still struggled with. The other things were something that depended on discipline, good planning an structure. One could do that alone.

I looked down at the water going down the drain. Long hair strands went with it. Maybe my hair was getting to long. I may have neglected that part of me. It almost reached my butt.

I hummed and glanced behind me at the cabinet. Scissors or an appointment?  

Again, was it even really a question?

A half hour filled of determination later I was surrounded by long hair strands. Looking at the shoulder length hair I was able to smile back at my reflection.

Chapter Text

The next day it rained again. Or maybe it just didn’t stop, also a possibility. Perfect setting for my first day of school at Forks. I was grateful for the monster of a truck Charlie got for me. I felt like I was ready to take on the whole world behind its wheel.

Turns out making friends wasn’t that hard. Depending on what your definition of friends is.

For some reason a lot of people went out of their way to greet me and show me around the school. Sweet but weird.

It’s not like I didn’t have friends back at home in Phoenix. But usually the same group of people talked to me and not everyone turned their heads when I walked down the hallways. It was kind of whatever. It just made me slightly – a lot – self-conscious. Were they staring just because I was new or because they could see the carrots stuck in my teeth that I had been eating that morning? Not that I opened my mouth a lot. Still nice if I had someone close enough that would straight out tell me if there were carrots stuck between my teeth.

“Hey, we’re here!” Eric – good job to me for remembering his name – said as we reached the cafeteria.

“Neat, thank you for showing the way,” I said, my eyes already scanning for a free table I could sit at.

Eric apparently didn’t notice that, interloped his arm in mine and proceeded to drag me to a table already full of people. I recognized some of them from my previous lessons. They had said ‘hi’ but hadn’t bothered to introduce themselves. Now they all did.

At the end of it I managed to remember Angela, Jessica and Mike. A+, Bella. Doing a great job.

Food was…eh…fine. No comment on that aside from the fact that I was going to bring my own food from then on. Getting burned one time is enough, please and thank you.

So I would deal with it later. Now just getting some food in me was key.

Just as I had a mouth full of rice in my mouth someone – Mike? Mike for sure – asked me a question.

“So, Isabella…” he started. I wanted to interrupt him because ‘no, it’s Bella’, but at least he didn’t say ‘Beau’ so that’s that. I was really grateful for Charlie taking my transition in stride and not to mention fully supporting me, but sometimes he could be too extra. Still, as I mentioned before, as long as it wasn’t ‘Beau’ or ‘Beaufort’ I was happy with anything.

Right there, with my mouth full of food, I decided to save ‘Bella’ for close friends and family.

“-wondering if you’d follow me on twitter?” Mike continued. I blinked back at him.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to! It’s just, none of us have found you on facebook yet and we-“

“I don’t have any of that,” I said after swallowing down my mouth full.

“That’s okay,” Angela, who sat to my left, reassured me. I smiled back and wiped my mouth immediately after realising my smile could lose its effect if I looked like a pig sty.

“I think it’s pretty cool actually, that you’re able to do that,” Eric piped in, “beats being addicted to scrolling through your ex’s feed.”

“Eric, that last one sounds more like a you problem,” Jessica said, shaking her head.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t cry through Edward’s social media for like, a month.” Eric playfully pointed at her.

“But that’s different,” Mike said, ”he’s not even her ex.”

Jessica looked like she really considered starting a cliché food fight right then and there. No one should look that menacing at food. Not wanting to be part of any of that, I turned away from them.

“I do have like, deviantart but I don’t use it, and a blog but I only post nerd stuff,” I said, mostly to Angela. I also had tons of pictures that I didn’t post anywhere but that wasn’t knowledge for them to have. That was personal.

“We love nerd stuff,” Angela said and as I glanced around I saw the others nodding furiously. Nerdiness apparently beat any potential drama.

“What kind of nerd stuff are we talking about?” Eric leaned towards us.

“Long rants about things I’m passionate about.”

“What a mood.”

-

After lunch I found myself actually looking forward to biology. It was one of my favourite classes.

As I walked in the first thing I noticed was a random fan just doing its job in the middle of a rainy day. When I walked by it blew right into my face. It probably made my birds nest of a hair even more so. It be like that sometimes.

The teacher was chill, I saw a potential friend in them. They asked how far we’ve gotten in the course back in Phoenix. After hearing I was quite a bit ahead he offered me some extra work so I wouldn’t get bored. Controversial opinion: I loved them for it. Not a lot of teachers had picked on things like that before. Not here in Forks and certainly not in Phoenix. Luckily I am patient even if I bored so in the past it hadn’t been a bother to anyone but me.

“You can sit in the back next to Edward,” they said, pointing over my head to the potential seat, “unless you need to sit in the front for medical reasons, then you can change seats with someone.”

“No, it’s fine, thank you,” I said and waved awkwardly as I walked to the only empty seat.

I walked slow so I could take my time observing the kid in the seat next to mine – and also so I wouldn’t trip over my own feet.

My first impression of him was a fairly rude one. I wasn’t proud of myself that I thought he looked 1. Pale as fuck and as if he hadn’t eaten and slept in days and 2. Awfully constipated.

In short: he looked bad enough that I felt compelled to initiate a conversation with him and touch his arm the moment I took my seat. Me? Never in a million years. Maybe the water in Forks could slowly change your personality. Further research needed before any conclusions are made.

So I sat next to him, touched his arm in what I hoped was a reassuring way and said “Hey buddy, you all right? Do you need to go to the school nurse?” Did they even have a school nurse?

And I swear, he honest to god choked as if he had just come above water and was desperate for some air but huge mouthfuls of water still managed to get into his air canal.  Yes, I like to make long metaphors. Don’t come at me.

I guessed they did have a nurse because Edward – that’s what the teacher called him before – stumbled from his seat. He shook my hand off him and proceeded to rush, inhumanly fast, out of the classroom. Hm.

Yeah, if I wasn’t compelled before this was enough to convince me to never eat cafeteria food again.

Chapter Text

The next day I spotted Edward at lunch. He looked fine but didn’t touch his food. Neither did any of the people he sat with. A lesson learned for everyone, I guessed.

I for one had kept my promise to myself and brought my own lunch. Nothing fancy since me and Charlie had forgone real food shopping. So we only had some bread and enough vegetables and tofu to make a respectable sandwich.

Maybe I could stop by the local supermarket before going home and-

“Staring at them won’t make them notice you, you know,” Jessica said, interrupting my inner conversation with myself.

It didn’t take me more than a second to notice what she was going on about. My intention was to check on Edward like for a second but apparently my staring in to the abyss that followed was still in his direction. Bummer.

“What do you mean?” I asked anyway as I turned my body back to the table.

“Don’t play coy.” Jessica giggled. “I could give you some flirting tips if you want, but I don’t think they’ll work on any of them anyway if you do it…”

I raised one eyebrow at her and took one bite of my sandwich.

Listen, I’m not one to care about rumours or any kind of drama. But I might admit to having a slight petty streak. If someone told me I couldn’t do something? You bet your ass that’s the next thing I’ll do. My therapist back in Phoenix – Jamal, my sweet dude – brought my attention to the fact that it’s not healthy. So I have tried to tone it down.

“Oh? Have they worked when you did it then?” I asked, deadpanned. To be fair, that was my go to tone. Sarcasm isn’t something you should try because after a while it’s hard to grow out of it and it isn’t necessarily a great friend magnet.

Jessica blushed “No-“ she started, brushing a stray stand of hair behind her ear, “but the Cullens are impossible, they only like date each other or no one, which is gross anyway-“

“It’s fine, plenty of fish aren’t there?”

That’s when Mike, who I wasn’t aware was listening, chirped in with a “That’s right!

“Shut up, Mike,” Jessica mumbled, her blush reached her ears now, and trained all of her attention on her lunch.

I kept on eating my lunch in relative peace, tuning everyone’s voice out. Then my brain stuttered on something.

“Wait, Jess,” I said, eyes probably wide open.

She hummed in response right away since she had a rare minute where she wasn’t talking to anyone.

“What do you mean they only date each other?” I asked and squinted at her.

That question seemingly brought all life back into her as she started to talk surprisingly animated.

“They are like, adopted,” she started, her eyes darting back to the Cullen table before continuing, “Dr. Cullen and his wife are super young so they took them in. None of them are related and as far as I know they haven’t been siblings for long, but still…it’s a little weird they’re together.”

“All of them? Is this like a poly relationship situation?”

“Not as far as I’m aware.” Jessica shrugged, turning back to me. “The big one, Emmett  is together with Jasper, the crazed looking one. The cutest of them all, Alice, is together with Rosalie.” She sighed and put her head in her hand as she finished the last sentence.

I grabbed my second sandwich.

“Was it Alice you had an eye on?” I asked knowingly.

Jessica spluttered some ‘no, of course not!’s and became red again. Or I was more talented at pushing people’s buttons than I though or she had a serious blushing condition. Jury’s out on that one.

“Yes, but she asked Edward instead and we all know how that turned out…” Mike said – seriously this guy.

“Shut up, Mike!” Jessica said, again.

It was only my second day at Fork’s high school but I already started to notice a trend.

“Have you tried asking both Alice and Rosalie? Maybe they’re open to a polyamorous relationship,” I said before reaching for my third and last sandwich.

 Maybe I should eat slower. Or pack more sandwiches. Or forget sandwiches and pack something more nutritious. Right, after school I will go after something. Or maybe I should text Charlie so he could go after something? Do I trust him enough to get healthy food?

“Oh, I haven’t thought about it like that before,” Mike said before Jessica could say anything, “Jessie, that could totally work out!”

“No it couldn’t, moron.” She crossed her arms.

“Why not?” Mike asked, leaning closer to us.

“Because-“ She gestured chaotically with both of her hands. “They’re probably super monogamous and even if they’re not they wouldn’t want me. Like, just look at them.” She directed her gestures at the Cullen table. I looked.

“I’m looking?” I said, frowning.

Jessica sighed. “Then you can see how out of my league they are!”

“You are such a chaotic gay, Jessie.” Mike sighed.

“Says you.” Jessica raised her eyebrows at him and Mike blushed, suddenly averting his eyes from the Cullen’s table.

“What do you mean, out of your league? They’re pretty, you’re pretty…as for the important part- you can’t know their personalities before you start a friendship or start dating first. So really, you have not enough data to base any conclusions on,” I said while folding my, now empty, lunch bag neatly into a square. Reuse to save the planet and what not.

“First of all, wow,” Mike said after a few seconds of staring at me, “second of all: she’s so right Jessie and you know it.”

“But they’re supermodels!”

“Even supermodels need friends.”

So that’s how my lunch went. I got a lot of information that I really didn’t need to have but alas, such is life.

After lunch I had Biology again. Most of the students were already there when I showed up. As was Edward, though he was noticeably less constipated looking. The irony.

I was torn between waiting in the hall until the teacher showed up and just sucking it up and going to my place. I didn’t want to avoid the guy but the possibility that he was embarrassed about the day before gave me enough second-hand embarrassment to want to immigrate to the moon.

Me being a big girl sucked it up and went to sit down already.

Edward smiled and gave me a little hand wave from his crossed arm position. I waved back.

“Hi, Bella, I’m Edward,” he said, apparently in a mood to start up a conversation.

Next he reached out one hand. If you asked me he didn’t look that sure of the gesture either. I took and shook it anyway but let go after a second or two.

I admired the self-confidence in the guy. Also, I was glad that I wouldn’t need to die from second-hand embarrassment. Now that would have been truly embarrassing. Glad he was taking it well. It wasn’t everyday that you had to Naruto-run out of class before diarrhoea caught up with you. Even worse if that was the first impression the new girl had of you.

“Hi,” I said back, “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I am.” He frowned slightly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, yesterday you didn’t look so well and then you ran out like a madman so I thought maybe the school lunch didn’t do you any favours.”

He laughed and shook his head. Or more like chuckled; it was a small thing, like he didn’t want to bare his teeth too much.

“Ah, yes. Sorry about that, I’m lactose intolerant and my brother likes to pull mindless pranks.” He shook his head again. “Again, sorry if that’s tmi.”

“It’s fine, I assumed something like that anyway so it’s already weird thanks to me.”

Edward laughed again. It made me smile. I barely knew the person but I liked his laughter. A weird thing to like about someone who seemingly didn’t really know how to laugh and looked self-conscious about it.

“Do you wear braces?” I asked out of nowhere, because I had no boundaries apparently.

“No, I didn’t use to either. Why?”

“No reason,” I said and turned away from him just as the teacher walked in.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week was…fine.

It.rained.every.day.

By the time Saturday rolled around my heart was kind of heavy. Normally the mornings during the weekend I would go out with my camera. But since I didn’t actually want to catch pneumonia it wouldn’t be the best idea to stroll around the woods in the rain.

Even if it didn’t rain anymore I would hesitate.

And lo and behold, when I woke up Saturday morning it didn’t rain anymore. I only knew this before I even opened my eyes because it was awfully quiet – cancelling out Charlie’s roaming around in the kitchen.

I crawled out of my warm bed to the window. My whole body shivered at the sudden cold that hit it.

After staring out of the window for a few minutes – one of my new hobbies, because I have to keep busy with something when I don’t take pictures – I turned away and started to get ready for the day.

I came down the stairs only when I was bundled up in enough warm clothing to make even bigfoot jealous.

Unfortunately I hadn’t made time yet to go buy some proper hiking clothes for the weather in Forks. Maybe the next week I would go to Port Angeles or if I was feeling awfully lazy order some from amazon. I would make an attempt at going out though.

 I had spotted some cool hiking places a little further from here but that Saturday I would make do with the forest right next to me.

“Good morning,” I said as I walked into the kitchen.

“Bella, good morning.” Charlie smiled and looked up for a second from the pan full of eggs he was holding.

I hummed, suddenly hit by the thought of getting some chickens. I’ve never had chickens or any kind of pet or farm animal before. Maybe it was worth a shot. Would I be able to take care of them though?

“Watcha making?” I asked even though it was fairly obvious what he was doing.

He answered “Eggs” anyway.

I took one warm hoodie off and jumped up to sit on the one part of the counter that wasn’t full of kitchen supplies.

It was silent for a little while until Charlie reached for a radio – an old cute little thing – and then the silence was accompanied by 90’s hoe’s anthems.

I dangled my feet back and forth for a while. My camera lived around my neck most of the time so I was able to take a picture of Charlie without him noticing.

 When I saw the eggs were almost ready I jumped off the counter and took out plates for the both of us.

Charlie smiled and thanked me. He was a little fidgety though, tense for some reason. I hadn’t noticed at first because my thoughts were all tangled up in the possible shots I could take and best hiking routes to take. As I sat across from him it was obvious that something was bothering him.

He wasn’t someone that was used to keep feelings bottled up.

If it had anything to do with me he would tell me himself, so I didn’t say anything.

I shut up – like usual – and ate my eggs.

“So, uh…Bella?” There it is.

“Hm?”

“How are you feeling lately?”

I looked up. “Okay, I guess. The weather isn’t doing wonders to my mood and I miss my medication sometimes but I’m supposed to see the new therapist Wednesday, so I’m holding up.”

Charlie nodded but I somehow sensed that, for some reason, that’s not what he wanted to ask. Which is weird. What else would he even be referring to?

“I’m glad, I know the weather isn’t the most joyful thing here but I’m thinking about getting you one of those sun lamps or what are they called? So you can get some more vitamin D.”

I stared at him, egg few inches from my mouth, but didn’t say anything except a muttered thank you.

“Are there any new symptoms bothering you?” He asked after two beats.

I thought about that for a second. I did feel like crawling out of my skin sometimes and not in the usual way but in a weird good way. That probably had something to do with the new environment, or something.

“Not really, what do you mean?”

Charlie shook his head and delved into his eggs again. I kept staring at him.

He must have felt my eyes boring into his forehead because after a minute he looked up again.

“I’m just worried that now the depression is more or less behind you, something else that we haven’t seen before could come to the surface.” That wasn’t it. For some reason I knew that wasn’t it.

I decided not to pry further.

“If that’s the case we’ll just have to accept it and deal with it,” I said.

The rest of Saturday was kind of uneventful. I walked around the woods for a few hours until I felt like it would start to rain again. In true me fashion I slipped and fell into mud a few times. My knees and butt were stained with dry and wet mud patches. That was fine since I had upgraded my wardrobe from two pair of jeans to three pairs.

Right before I started my nightly routine I looked through the pictures I had taken that day.

Squirrels, dramatic looking trees and puddles, Charlie focussed on his eggs and blurred pictures I’ve must have taken while falling down.  

I looked through all of them twice, as was my routine, until something unusual stopped me in my tracks.

A shadow that didn’t behave like shadows should, was in the corner of some of the pictures. I frowned and zoomed in while also bringing the camera closer to my face.

I stared at it for a while. It wasn’t really a shadow but more like a blur of something moving incredibly fast. Whatever.

As I decided I would look into it the next morning I placed the camera on my desk.

I also promptly forgot all about it the moment I stepped into the bathroom.

Chapter Text

Monday morning I woke up way too early by Mike meme-spamming the group chat. Let it be said that I  wasn’t one to regret any of my decisions but I  did come close to regretting ever joining that group chat.

Okay, that might have been a lie. I wasn’t used to having such…energetic friends. But I did like it. Otherwise I would have just silenced the chat.

My phone was on my desk on the other side of my room. Which I had done deliberately. ‘Discipline’ is just giving yourself no other choice but to do the productive thing. If your alarm rings but it’s on your desk you have no choice but to stand up. It doesn’t work with everyone. Not even always with me. Back in Phoenix I left my phone in the kitchen and put the alarm loud enough so I could hear it from my room. If I didn’t I would just get the phone from my desk and read fanfiction for an hour in my bed.

At first I didn’t even notice it was five AM so I got out of my bed, ready to start my day. Only after I had already put pants on it struck me. It had been the ping of a message that woke me up not the alarm. Those two are actually very hard to mix up but let my morning brain be, okay?

I pulled my a shirt over my head and walked with a pair of socks in my hand to my phone.

That was per usual. I also let the alarm ring because I always had a jam going on and I only went to pick up the phone after I had some clothes on. Another way to prevent from slipping back into bed. Turns out just getting out of it had somehow become an automatism already. Go Bella. You’re doing a great job sweatie.

Cool Guy (Mike)

*image of a rooster in rain boots*

He boot too big for he gotdamn feet

Imstillcrying3000;;(Eric)

twwo questines ,,y re u awrkr at this hour znd y r u sqnding us outdated memes

Cool Guy

morning run

and love for tiny animals never gets too old you heathen

are you drunk btw?

letsgetthisbread(Jessica)

I Thought You Liked big cock

Cool Guy

djsfdsoksljlsldsidjiqhf y are you like this

Imstillcrying3000;;

it’s mondayy mrnin yyyy

Bella

Good morning.

Cool Guy

see its not that early bella and Jessica are awake too

letsgetthisbread

I Never Went To Sleep

Bella

You woke me up. This is not by choice.

Are you really awake to run?

Cool Guy

yes! y would i lie

Bella

…

Cool Guy

dont be mean

also it takes me some time to actually get out of bed and start the run

so if I wasnt this lazy i didnt have to wake up this early to run

Bella

Now I have a problem, what am I even supposed to do at this ungodly hour.

Imstillcrying3000;;

dnt u like go to slep at niine pm how r u grumpy about dhis

Cool Guy

Omg really????

Imstillcrying3000;;

Y r u ‘’ ????’’’ u do thze same gotddamd thing

Cool Guy changed “Bella” to “Badass Grannie”

Cool Guy

also u could just go for a run too

if u don’t have any lights or running shoes i could bring u some rn

Badass Grannie

I shall let you all know I wear this name with pride.

Second: are you serious??

Cool Guy

no? jk…unless…

 lmao yes im srs i don’t live far anyways

yay or nay?

Badass Grannie

Yay.

I feel lame that I don’t have any running shoes. I’ll pay you back at school so the money doesn’t get wet.

Cool Guy

it fine we have a lot of emergency running shoes laying around

you dont have to apy

im on my way rn

wait whats ur shoe number

letsgetthisbread

SHOE NUMBER

Cool Guy

shut up ;;;;;

Badass Grannie

7

Cool Guy

i’ll be there in 15

Badass Grannie

Ok.

letsgetthisbread

Why Doesn’t He Ever Asks Us  Out For A Run

Arent We Friendss

Imstillcrying3000;;

Lmfafoooo eh did

He practly beggd butt were too  laazey hahaaa *bunch of crying emojis*

letsgetthisbread

Still…THIS IS SAD

Also Did You really Just Type *bunch of crying emojis*

Without One Typo Too Boot

Are You coming To The Land Of The Living?

Imstillcrying3000;;

Ye don’t start to judge me now

Also yes im awake againsts mywill yess

letsgetthisbread

If The Sun Stays AWAY You’ll Get To See Your Boys ^TM

Imstillcrying3000;;

SHUP UT ur gey ass isn’t thinking about me lmao

letsgetthisbread

You’re Right. My Kokoro Is Already Beating Just Thinking About THE GODDESSESS

Imstillcrying3000;;

gayyyy

speaking of which

where is angelaa

letsgetthisbread

She Is A Good Girl Who Values Her Sleep and Keeps Her Phone KNOCKED OUT At Night

Imstillcrying3000;;

what a gr8 rolemodle

aight im gonna plunder the fridge of all its milk brb

see yall at school dont at me until thzen

Chapter Text

So that is the story of how I managed to drag my sorry body out of bed at the crack of dawn at least twice a week.

Mike was good company. But don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want him anywhere near my genitals – or any one actually. His chaotic bisexual ass had come to terms with it.

A few weeks passed kind of peacefully.

I went to school, took a nap and studied like a nerd when I came back. During the weekends I studied like a nerd some more and went hiking with Dragomir ( my precious camera). I also met with my new therapist Fioana once a week, all the way in Seattle. Rinse and repeat. Ah yeah, sometimes I even gave in and played some board games with Charlie and The Boys^TM from la push.

I say kind of peacefully because all though I’m living my life like a normal person I almost always have this inkling feeling that someone is watching me. Not to be spiritual on main but I do have a strong intuition. Never wrong.

Hopefully it was wrong this time. Having a stalker isn’t ideal.

I didn’t worry much about it since I was always in company of others. Most of the times. I was more careful of being alone in sketchy places than before. If I was meant to die by the hands of an obsessed stalker then so be it. I’ve lived a good life, I guess.

Speaking of weird; the Cullens  and the Hales were giving off weird vibes. They were cool people though. I’ve talked with each one of them a couple of times in the second week and it just blossomed into a friendship(?) from there. Later I learned that was a weird occurrence, they apparently liked to keep to themselves. Not the impression I got, getting to talk to at least one of them every day now, but go off I guess.

And they were…touchy.

I wouldn’t say I out right hated to be touched by others but…I didn’t necessarily like it. Combined with being touched starved (a-fucking-pparently?!) it was probably the reason why I thought they gave off weird vibes. Projection and whatnot.

Don’t get me wrong: they never touched me inappropriately. It was a touch of shoulder here and bump on the arm there, ‘you have something in your hair’ frequently. But as someone that was apparently touch starved I was hyper fixated on every touch.

Still, it shouldn’t have been that a big deal. I say we talked regularly but it wasn’t like they occupied a huge aspect of my life. So all in all I shouldn’t have cared much about them. That I did care annoyed me. A lot.

I didn’t like how much time I spent thinking about them. Especially that Edward guy. I say ‘Edward guy’ because I might have a crush on him. Acting like I don’t care is a coping mechanism, that’s what all the cool kids do too.

Not to mention they were like really full on weird. I mean, I already mentioned it but it’s worth saying multiple times. If I didn’t know better I’d think they were some kind of supernatural creature. As it stood they probably just needed a therapist too. And some sleep.

Exhibit A was staring right at me while I tried to focus on my homework. Emphasis on tried.

We decided to study at the school library to not get distracted but Edward was doing at shit job at not being a distraction himself. I only agreed to study together because of the change of scenery. It’s best to retain information if you go over it in multiple different places. Bu ton the other hand other sources said it’s best to have a set study place. I decided to agree with the first one only because I needed an excuse at the time to spend more time with Edward. It really irked me that he caught my attention in such a strong manner. Needless to say I was ignoring it. Yes.

“Something on your mind?” I finally said, looking up from the textbook only to see Edward already looking. Which confirmed my suspicion of him doing a stare context with my forehead.

Edward stared for a second longer before shaking his head and looking back down.

“Just restless these past few days.”

“You mean weeks?”

“Don’t call me out like that.” Edward huffed.

“You can talk if you have something to say, I’ll listen,” I said, which was really heartfelt coming from me.

Edward just smiled and shook his head again. “Thank you, but I don’t want to bother you with this. It’s kind of personal anyway.”

“Ah, sorry. Just hang on then yeah?”

We were lucky no one was around the place we had chosen to sit, but still I kept my mouth shut as not to bother anyone just in case. It also really sounded like it wasn’t any of my business. So….

Even though my ‘something is definitely wrong’ senses were tingling like I just got bit my a radioactive spider, I did nothing.

I did nothing and then a few days after that conversation I found a vampire in my bedroom.

Chapter Text

The fact that I ignored Edward’s obvious problem and the other fact that there was a vampire in my bedroom were not correlated. Not to my knowledge at least.

I didn’t know it was a vampire at the time, obviously. My mind told me it was a robber. My instinct told me ‘predator’.

I had just come back after a long day of school and already made ready to dive to my bed for a nap when I saw her.

Long, curly orange hair obscured her face. She was holding two arms full of my dirty laundry. I let my backpack fall to the ground in shock. That’s when she turned around with a surprised expression on her face. You’d think robbers wouldn’t break in the afternoon just after school hours. But whatever did I know about that.

“What are you?” She asked with a raw voice while she got into a defensive position.

Um hello? If there was anyone that needed to do that it was me? Maybe she forgot she was the one breaking and entering. And I doubt I look all that threatening. At most I look like a pacifist bisexual.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? What are you doing in my room? I would appreciate it if you did my dirty laundry for me but I’d like it even more if you had asked me first. We don’t need a maid anyway,” I rambled while discretely reaching for my phone. I wish butt dialling was still a thing but alas not possible with a phone case. I missed my old phone at that moment. Granted it was flip phone so just discretely pressing the short-cut button to the police wouldn’t have been possible either.

Apparently I wasn’t subtle enough. Before I could blink she was already moving, pouncing on me. Or I guessed that’s what she tried to do.

When she got into a two metres radius from me she tripped on her feet -???- and fell to her face. I gladly took that opportunity to make a run for it and lock the door behind me.

Charlie wasn’t impressed at having an emergency at his house. Since it was personal business he wasn’t allowed to take care of the case but he came anyway, claiming it was the end of his shift. It wasn’t by the way, but who’s keeping count.

He needn’t have worried so much. Ariel – the robber, not the literal mermaid. I liked naming everything okay, don’t at me – was long gone by the time police showed up. I didn’t check it myself of course. Though I did wish I hadn’t dropped my backpack, now I couldn’t even do my homework.

I didn’t face Charlie’s worry right away. My friends  came to pick me up after I did my statement and we made an impromptu ‘Movies Eric borrowed from the library & Chill’.

It’s only when Mike drove me back after sunset that the real shit hit the fan.

Charlie wasn’t outwardly mad or anything, though his worry was apparent. Charlie is Charlie so he was gentle as always. What I meant with ‘the shit hit the fan’ is that he kind of hovered and gave me that weird concerned glance.  Giving him a hug worked to calm him down, I think. At least it made me feel better.

I didn’t get the whole freaking out about it. If someone needed to freak out it should have been me and I wasn’t so he should have been fine too, right? But that’s old thinking. Everyone is allowed to feel whatever they feel because that’s the healthy thing to do. It only becomes toxic when they act harshly on those feelings. But just having a nice cry and a little vent is nothing out of the ordinary. Fiona confirmed.

So I took my school work and did it at the kitchen island instead of my room like usual. I knew Charlie needed to see me. And okay, maybe I was also a little affected by seeing a stranger in the room. Even though the stranger didn’t seem competent enough to attack me or anything. And the most valuable thing to her was my underwear.

I was on my last algebra equation when it hit me.

Did I really have a stalker?

Charlie had probably figured it out already. So that explains his state of distraught.

“Dad?” I said at the same time he said “Bella?”

We both chuckled a little at that.

“You go first,” I said and put my pencil down.

Charlie looked like he wanted to start a ‘no you start’ conversation but gave up before it started and stood up instead, coming to sit across from me at the kitchen island.

“I don’t know if it’s too late or too early to tell you this but you need to know something.”

“Geez, that doesn’t sound ominous at all.”

“Has your mom told you anything about your…ancestors?”

“You mean grandma Rosalinda and her brothers?”

Charlie seemed relieved as I said that, letting out a long breath. “So she told you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I got the foresight then to close my book and push it to the side, this was boding to be a long conversation. “She told me grandma was a bad bitch and when people told her she couldn’t do stuff, like opening a business or running the in the woods alone, her brothers backed her up.”

“Oh, so she hasn’t told you.”

I decided to just stare at him instead of asking ‘told me what’, because I had a long 24 hours and the beating around the bush started to get me. Charlie was probably not doing it on purpose. Whatever he wanted to say seemed to be a sensitive subject to him. Still, I shut my mouth so no tired mean things would come out.

“I’m going to make us some tea, first. Yeah- yeah that’s a good idea.”

I thought he would start only after we both had a cup of tea in hand, but instead he started speaking while he was making it. Charlie did always feel more comfortable while doing something with his hands.

“I didn’t believe it when your mother told me how…different her lineage is. Or…I didn’t want to believe it. I don’t want to know things that I shouldn’t. ” Charlie took the kettle out of the cupboard before filling it with water.

“Everyone’s family has something or other that isn’t 100% normal, so I didn’t judge her. It was only when I truly saw it with my own two eyes that I understood what it really meant. Her…her and you being witches.”

I blinked at Charlie.

He stared at the kettle on the stove.

Outside it started to rain.

“Yeah? I mean I kind of am a witch, though more of a beginner than anything else. I like to do little calming spells for myself. But you knew this already?”

Charlie laughed nervously and scratched the back  of his head, still staring at the kettle.

“No this is something else, something genetic. I understand it’s confusing that the condition it called ‘with’ too. Your mother thought it wouldn’t get passed on to you, since she still has her powers so I’m guessing that’s why she didn’t tell you.”

“Wait, wait, wait…powers? So you’re telling me I have supposedly inherited some kind of power? Like uh…spider-man?”

“That’s what your mother told me. Since then I have learned that I have something too, though I’m not a witch by all means. I think I can detect when someone else is something else than strictly human. Otherwise I would have no way of knowing your powers manifesting. You didn’t show any signs.”

“Why tell me now? Right after the whole break-in incident?”

“I feel the manifestation of your powers is really close and great stress could make the process go faster. I don’t know what your abilities might be so I wanted you to at least be a little bit prepared.”

“Oh, like imagine if I woke up spewing fire or something tonight?”

“Yes, though I don’t know if that could happen to you. Your mother’s power is more subtle so I’d imagine yours would be too. Especially since I don’t have anything bombastic either. There is still a chance,” Charlie said while putting two empty cups on the table and turning around to take the kettle off the stove.

He filled the cups with mint tea and I immediately held mine in both of my hands to warm them.

“What is mom’s power?”

“This kind of information is personal, I think that she would like to tell you herself.”

We drank our tea in silence, not looking at each other.

Strangely enough the silence was still a comfortable one, like it’s always been with Charlie.

“Do you think the person coming in my room has something to do with my power?”

“I don’t know. I do feel something off about your room, so it could be a possibility. I don’t know what option I would prefer.”

I nodded. “I wish it hadn’t happened at all.” A beat. “I have to buy new underwear now and she has my favourite hoodie.”

Charlie chuckled and nodded as well. “I’m going to take some incense to cleanse the house.”

“Give me some for my room too.”

Chapter Text

“I teach self-defence classes.” Edward said nonchalantly from behind me. We were leaning against each other back to back in the grass. Both a book in hand.

“That’s interesting,” I said, not looking up from ‘Supernatural abilities for dummies’.

“It’s free for anyone that goes to our school.”

“Hmmm.”

“Which is also you.”

I looked up from my book at that. But had to squint when staring back and up at him because the sun was right behind me. He didn’t have the courtesy to move a few inches so it wouldn’t shine in my eyes. Though maybe that was him doing me a favour. He knew how much I liked the sun. Forks didn’t get many sunny days. I appreciated the sunshine when I could. Out of necessity I  had also started to learn to appreciate the rain. It was easy to appreciate it when it was great for any kind of cleansing and it made for some bomb pictures. My nine Instagram followers seemed to think so.

“Thank you for comforting me, Eddie, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The whole break in thing was just a onetime thing. Probably just someone that was lost inside their head somehow and needs help. What are the chances that something like that would ever happen again?”

“Bella, please consider-“

“Okay, I’ll consider it,” I said between clenched teeth. Edward took his hand from my arm.

 The impulse to lash out was there and somehow I managed to keep it in check. I didn’t need him to worry about me, I could take care of myself just as well. No need to make me his damsel in distress. In what year was he born? 1907? But somewhere, beyond my sudden anger, I knew he just cared about me and this was his way to show it.

Even though I knew all that, my chest was still boiling over with misplaced anger. So I had to graciously flee our little sunny spot on the grass. Other students were there as well – duh, there wasn’t a nicer way to spend your lunch break on a sunny day – so I did trip over a few of them. Edward was close behind me, even though I just said goodbye.

“What’s up?”

“Ah- I also needed to leave.”

“Is it to those self-defence classes?”

“No, those are after school. I’m going to-“ He looked around in what he probably thought was a subtle way. “-Alice. I have talk to her about something.”

I nodded, obviously not convinced. But then again, I also didn’t have anywhere to go, I just had wanted a little distance to get rid my fumes. I didn’t like that he kept offering me help like I was weak and couldn’t do anything myself. But I also didn’t  that that’s how I saw his help. I was angry at him insinuating I needed help and  I was even angrier at being angry.

“Would you like to come with me?”

“No, I just told you I have somewhere to be. I’ll talk to you later.” I started walking faster then, risking the amount of times I would trip to increase. It was worth it though. When I finally reached the classroom I felt a bit better.

Noe one was there, of course. And no one would be for another twenty minutes. Would I really miss out on the sun because I was a bit angry? No. The walk back outside would probably make me feel all right again so I turned around. Or that is what I wanted to do. Through two pairs of windows – the ones separating the hallway and the class and the ones separating the class and the outside – I saw her again. Ariel.

She was perched on the tree in front of the classroom and ethereally beautiful. Where she had looked extremely tired and on uneven ground before, she looked like a predator you would willingly give yourself over to now. SO pretty it would make you want to write something vaguely poetic. It reminded me a bit of the Cullens and the Hales when you see them from far away. Which is a weird connection to make.

I blinked.

She was still staring at me. A grin erupting on her face.

Huh.

“Uh…is that a person in the tree??” Someone asked, suddenly very close to me. Where did she come from? Needless to say I jumped a mile high and  - attempted to - hit her with my backpack. It wasn’t Ariel as my body had expected, but Jessica instead. Who didn’t appreciate people swinging backpacks at her.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“Sorry I-“ I didn’t get to finish my sentence, too perplexed to see Ariel in the classroom now, reaching for the door. How she got there so fast was beyond me.

“I think we should call a teacher. Don’t think I’ve ever seen her here before.”

“I know her she  is…” I gulped, needing to pause.

“You know her? Oh my god is that your girlfriend or something? And a forbidden romance which is why she can’t wait at the school entrance like a normal person? Wow!” Jessica was very excited for someone in a dangerous situation. Couldn’t she feel the murderous aura coming from the classroom?

“I’ll tell you later. We need to go!” I grabbed her hand and started running outside.

Jessica giggled. “I’m sure it’s fine to just talk to her..” That’s what she said but she kept running with me.

The moment we were a few feet away I heard the classroom door open. I ran faster.

The ‘running faster’ plan didn’t work. We ran onto Alice on the way there, which made Jessica blush and stop in her tracks to talk to her.

“Hi Bella! You look very nice today~”

“Thanks but-“

“You are very beautiful too Alice!” Jessica said leaning heavily against me which pushed me slightly backward and put her closer to Alice. I rolled my eyes.

I checked behind me to see  how far Ariel was but

It was too late.

Seemingly having teleported Ariel was behind us, behind me, reaching for my throat.

It was different than last time.

Ariel didn’t fall on her face.

Alice did though. She tried to shove me and Jessica to the side and jump over to Ariel. At least I think that was her plan. What really happened was that she lost her grip on us and fell to the ground, slid  between our legs from the momentum and hit Ariel’s ankles. And that made Ariel trip and not fall on her face but on Alice this time.

“What are you doing to me?!” Ariel screeched, her voice surprising me with how raw it sounded.

“Oh, have you broken up with her?” Jessica stage-whispered in my ear.

“I have not-“

Alice groaned from beneath Ariel. “Get off!”

“I can’t even move well, everything is so slow…please…please…make it stop…” Ariel flailed her arms while Alice still complained.

Jessica fussed around them, trying to free Alice but not knowing how the get around Ariel’s trashing.

“Eh…” I said.

I would have said something more eloquent but my brain was too busy trying to make sense of the scenario in front of me. First she was so fast my eyes couldn’t keep up with the movement. Next she tripped over nothing like she hadn’t walked a day in her life. It was like the closer she came, the slower she got.

Wait.

“You stay there!” I yelled at Ariel before running a twelve feet distance. “How do you feel now?”

The answer came in the form of Alice throwing Ariel off of her in an impressive show of strength. Followed by Ariel doing the weird running/teleporting thing. Until she  came in arm length distance again and fought to keep her balance. I stepped closer. Though this time I noticed how much slower she became with each foot closer to me.

“Come here, lean on me.” I said, holding my arms out. Ariel, strangely enough, did just so. She even went the extra mile of pressing her nose against my neck. Her breathing was ragged and existed mostly of gasps, as if she had just drowned.

I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the situation. But this was our best bet. I had this gnawing feeling that the closer I kept her the safer everyone would be. Which is again, strange. I didn’t know anything and still somehow I had felt the danger coming from Ariel and knew what the best way to combat it was. Could I get an A+ for this? The subject: suspecting humans from being ravenous beings. Perhaps…supernatural.

“Bella!” Alice screamed. “What are you doing? Get away from her!”

“Haven’t you heard? This is my ex, obviously it’s my responsibility to escort her out.”

“I think she needs an ambulance or a doctor or something.” Jessica said, eyes shifting between us three.

“That’s a great idea Jessica, I’ll take her to Carlisle.” Alice calmy walked over to us.

“I’ll come too,” I said, chin up and feet planted on the ground, not leaving room for any arguments. Not on this.

There was no way to know how dangerous this Ariel person was. What I truly knew was that my instinct was blaring alarms and throwing red flags at me. Which translated to: pretty dangerous.

For some reason she was weak around me.

So if it was in my power to help others I didn’t see why I shouldn’t.