Chapter Text
Bella looked out the window, zoning out to the quiet pitter-patter of rain as tall, thin trees passed by, a grey sky looming over them as they made their way through the sparsely populated town of Forks, Washington. Population: 3,120.
It was… not great. Bella would miss Phoenix, miss the blistering heat of Arizona, miss her clumsy, harebrained mother, and miss the handful of people she had gotten along with at school. They weren’t her friends, not really, but they were friendly, and having someone she knew enough to have as a lab partner or for a group project was something Bella was grateful for.
People weren’t mean, or rude, or anything to her, just… off-put. For reasons entirely unknown to her, all she was was on the quieter side, but she tried not to dwell on it too much.
The move to Forks felt a bit unavoidable, even if no one had actually forced her to. Her mother and step-dad had decided to live on the road and she had liked all the summers she came to Forks and stayed with her dad, so she couldn’t say she regretted the decision.
Bella felt weirdly neutral about the whole thing honestly, like her life would just pick back up exactly the same, only 1,500 miles away from before.
“Your hair got longer,” her dad said, glancing at her from the driver’s seat. It was still mid-day, so he was dressed in his navy blue police uniform, two gold badges decorating his chest. The left one was a thin gold plate that said Charlie Swan, the right one in the shape of a crest that read Chief of Police.
Bella turned towards him, her hand instinctively moving up to twirl the end of one of the waves. “I uh, cut it since the last time I saw you actually.”
“Oh. Hmm.”
Yeah, both of her parents weren’t winning any awards in the “being attentive” category of parenting anytime soon. Bella couldn’t really blame her dad though. She only saw him during the summers, and despite being Chief of Police in arguably the smallest town to every small town, he did still have other things to worry about.
They pulled up in front of a small, two-story white house. The neighborhood was quiet, and trees surrounded them, providing shade from a non-existent sun. An atmosphere this secluded and just short of silent due to the rustle of the leaves from the wind should have been a bit strange, given the city she used to live in, but it was weirdly comforting, like a place she could hole herself up in, away from her problems.
Which is what she did every summer, actually, so this worked out pretty decently.
Her and her dad circled back to the trunk to grab her bags. They walked into the house and up the stairs, Bella moving left towards her room.
“I cleared some shelves off of the bathroom.”
Oh, right. One bathroom.
“Thanks, Dad.”
She stepped into her room, the one she always stayed in over the summer up until three years ago. It looked the exact same. A plushie and a few board games sat on top of her dresser, paper snowflakes and elementary school drawings were still pinned to her board, and a couple of polaroids littered the wall near her window and bed.
“I got you this work lamp earlier,” Charlie said, walking in and resting a hand on the table. “And the sales lady chose the sheets. Purple. You uh, you like purple right?” He squinted.
Bella let out a chuckle. “Purple is cool. Thanks.”
They stood in silence for a few moments, glancing around the room.
Charlie lightly pushed himself off of the table, moving towards the door. “Ok, I’ll leave you to it, then. Bathroom’s all yours.”
The greatest thing about her dad, Bella thought, was that he didn’t hover.
She shuffled around the room for a few minutes, rearranging some papers and putting her old games away, when she heard voices outside of her window. She raised a corner of the blind to look outside. Her dad was standing next to a parked red truck in the driveway. An older man in a wheelchair and wide hat rolled up to clap hands with her dad. Behind him, a guy around her age stood with his hands in his pockets, silky black hair cut short on the sides and a little longer in the front with warm, russet skin, towering above both of the older men in height and physique.
Bella smiled and jogged downstairs.
All three of them turned towards her.
“Bella, you remember Billy Black,” Charlie motioned towards the man in the wheelchair.
“Of course, yeah hey Billy,” she greeted, putting her hand out for a handshake Billy returned with a smile.
“I’m glad you're finally here Bella, Charlie hasn’t shut up about it since he heard you were coming,” Billy said grinning, earning an eyeroll and a light shove from Charlie.
“Keep exaggerating and I’ll knock you off your wheels, tough guy.” Billy laughed and pulled on Charlie’s jacket, moving them a bit away to talk in private. The guy who, up until now, had been standing behind Billy silently walked up to Bella and gave her a blinding smile.
“Hey, Bella,” he put a hand up, in greeting. “Remember me?”
Bella rolled her eyes, but grinned back, giving him a high-five. “No, Jacob, I don’t remember the guy who texted me last night freaking out that his busted up motorcycle almost clocked him in the ankle.”
Jacob let out an exaggerated huff. “Your best friend almost died last night, and you're laughing.”
“No, my best friend almost got his ankle cut off because he’s too stupid to park his bike properly, and I’m laughing.” She glanced back at their dads. “Dude, are they still like this?” she asked, pointing a few steps away. Where Billy and Charlie should have been discussing something important, Charlie was actually sidestepping Billy as he wheeled around trying to kick him with the toe of his boots.
“It’s getting worse with old age,” Jacob replied.
“They have got to get it together, they’re like the most oblivious birds of all time,” Bella said under her breath as the two men walked up to them again.
Jacob snickered, muffling it behind a hand when Billy gave him a look.
Charlie slapped a hand onto the red truck, turning to Bella. “So, what do you think?”
Bella raised an eyebrow. “Of what?”
“Your homecoming present.”
“Wait this?” She turned towards the truck to study it closer. It was an old Chevy, the salmon-red paint slightly chipped, and when she glanced in through the window, the brown leather seats looked worn from use, but clean. It was perfect, clearly very neatly taken care of and in line with her taste.
“I bought it off Billy a bit before you got here,” Charlie explained.
Billy nodded. “You dad won’t tell you, so I will Bella, he took a whole week figuring out which truck you would like.”
“It wasn’t a week,” Charlie muttered, throwing Billy a half-hearted glare.
“Alright fine, it was five days.”
“And,” Jacob began, tapping her shoulder so she could face him, “I totally didn’t rebuild the engine for you.”
Bella smiled at him appreciatively. “Thanks, Jake.”
Jacob waved her off. “It was fun, don’t worry. Plus, your dad asked me if I knew what you would like and I remember you mentioned red so,” he motioned towards the truck, “all the final decisions were him though, really. I just helped”
Bella turned to her dad, and gave him a grin. “Thanks, Dad, really. It’s perfect.”
Up until now, Charlie had had an underlying tension below his carefree demeanor, but it seemed to wash away after hearing what she said. He looked much more at ease now, relieved. “Of course.”
Billy nudged him with an elbow, giving him a look. “I told you she would like it.” He puffed his chest out. “I’m like, so down with the kids Charles.”
Charlie shook his head, a smile on his face.
“It’s really great Dad,” Bella emphasized. “Thank you. It’s cool if I take it for a spin right?”
Charlie gave her a thumbs up. “Go for it, kiddo. Take Jacob with you, you guys can catch up.”
Bella opened the driver side door, as Jacob shuffled around the car into the passenger seat.
“You saw the look your dad gave mine just now right,” Jacob asked under his breath as he shut the door.
Bella rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure people on Jupiter could see it, actually.”
Jacob laughed and motioned in front of them. “Ok so, you gotta double-pump the clutch when you shift, but other than that, you should be good.”
Bella adjusted the rearview mirror and looked down, pointing. “This one, right?”
“Yep, yeah that one.”
Bella started the engine. “So, where to? Do you wanna ride to school or something?”
“Did you forget I go to school on the reservation now?” Jacob questioned. “No dice on being classmates, by the way.”
“Oh shit, yeah, you mentioned that,” Bella shook her head. “Lead the way to Forks High then?”
Jacob drummed his fingers on the console, “Left at the blue house on the corner.”
“Damn, it would have been nice to know someone in class though,” Bella commented as she reversed.
“If it helps, I wish I didn’t know everyone in school. I’m gonna be surrounded by family man,” Jacob grumbled, but Bella could tell he didn’t really mean it. She knew from the stories he told her when they texted, or occasionally called, about some random thing Paul did (“He’s insane,” he wrote in a text, paired with the eyes and no mouth emoji. “He’s completely insane.”), or something Sam said (“He’s so stupid Bella, I can’t believe he’s the oldest of us.”) that he loved all of them.
Bella enjoyed hearing him talk about them, and caught herself often wondering what it would be like to have a brother or a sister, that easy camaraderie and closeness that came with being the only people who had lived in a shared environment, and went through so many of the same things when you were younger. She didn’t have a feeling of loss really; she didn’t actually have a sibling so she couldn’t really feel like she lost anything, but it felt more like a feeling of missing out on a relationship. Honestly, the closest she had to a sibling was Jacob.
She snorted as she pulled onto the unpaved road. “You know, I haven’t actually met the guys in person, you should introduce me now that I’m here.”
“Oh yeah, for sure. There’s some guys that I hang out with more now too, you should meet all of them. Prepare yourself though,” he added, schooling his face into an expression of exaggerated seriousness.
Bella raised an eyebrow. “Prepare myself?”
“Mhm. You have to prepare yourself to meet them.” He put his arms out in front of him, bent at the elbows and hands splayed out in the air like he was setting the scene, and let out a big breath.
“So imagine a den of wolves right.”
She burst out laughing.
A few days later, Bella pulled into a parking spot close to the front of the school and turned the engine off. It was January, the start of second semester, and she tried to live in the blissful ignorance of having no assignments for the next ten minutes before the first bell rang.
She pulled her jacket on, and slung her backpack over her shoulder before jumping out and shutting the door behind her. Pulling out a crumpled schedule from her pocket, she circled around the hood and made her way to the front of the building.
She walked up the stairs and through the doors, before slowing down and stopping in the middle of the hallway to look back and forth between her schedule and the handful of signs littering the building pointing towards different hallways.
“Isabella Swan right? You’re the new kid,” a voice sounded behind her before coming up next to her. She glanced up. He was a student, if the lack of a lanyard around his neck was any indication, and had shoulder length black hair with bangs that fell messily into his eyes. “I’m Eric, the eyes and ears of this place.”
Bella raised an eyebrow but nodded.
“Anything you need, tour guide, lunch date, shoulder to cry on?”
Oh boy.
“I’m really more of the sit-in-a-corner-unassumingly type, don’t worry about it,” she responds, offering him a small smile.
Eric snapped his fingers. “Ooh that’s a good quote for your feature. I’m on the paper,” he added, like that explained everything. “You’re front page news, trust me.”
Oh hell no.
She whipped her head to the side to look at him. “No I’m not.” He just tilted his head and smiled at her. “You- ok you don’t have to do that. Actually, please don’t do that.”
Eric put his hands up, placating. “Whoa uh, okay then. No feature.”
Bella let out a relieved sigh and nodded. “Thanks. Also, could you point me towards the gym?” She held her schedule up. “Gym first period.”
“Oh yeah just go all the way to the end of the hallway, turn right, and then walk all the way to the end, it’ll say gym on the left. See you around!” He grinned at her before turning around and half jogging, half skipping (?) in the direction he came from.
Well. That was definitely… a conversation.
She walked into the gym and changed in the locker room before walking out, just in time to see a volleyball come hurtling towards her. Instinctively, her arms flew up to shield her face. The ball came and hit her hard on the hand before flying off and promptly hitting one of the guys playing basketball right in the back of the head.
Bella internally heaved a sigh, before jogging up to him.
He turned around and locked eyes with her, anger dimming slightly as she half-put her hands up in surrender.
“Sorry that was not supposed to happen, it was coming right at my face-” she rushed to get out.
“Oh no yeah uh-, it’s, it’s cool,” he stuttered out, nodding vigorously. “I’m Mike Newton by the way. You’re Isabella Swan right? The new kid?”
Wow, did everyone in the building know her already?
“Just Bella actually, and yeah, I’m the new kid,” she shook her hands a little at a weak attempt at jazz hands before dropping them to her sides.
“Hey, did you wanna-”
“I’m Jessica by the way,” a voice interrupted him. A girl ran up to his side, light brown hair in a high ponytail and a maroon headband. “You’re from Arizona right?” She looked nice enough, even though her voice was doing that thing where it felt like she was purposefully speaking in a higher tone, and she kept glancing occasionally at Mike and-
Oh for fuck’s sake.
“Aren’t people from Arizona supposed to be, like, really tan, or something?” she continued, glancing over to Mike again, like she was asking for confirmation.
Bella internally groaned, but kept her face completely neutral. What an incredible situation to get into not even fifteen minutes into the first day. “Yeah, no, for sure. Probably why they kicked me out.” It wasn’t meant to be a joke. It wasn’t meant to be anything actually, just a conversation-ending comment that would hopefully get them to nod and leave and she could go back to standing behind the volleyball court and pretend like she was doing something.
Instead, Mike started laughing, and then Jessica started laughing, but the fake kind of laughing where she, again, kept looking at Mike like whatever he said was going into her own personal manifesto.
Bella was completely over this class already, despite only being here for a grand total of about three minutes.
She put a hand up halfheartedly to wave goodbye, before turning back towards the volleyball net.
Gym went by quickly after that, with Bella just keeping to the edge of the court and picking up volleyballs for the girls that were actually playing. A few classes later and it was lunch. Mike caught her right by the entrance and chattered away with her as they stood in line together, before taking her to the table he was sitting at.
Bella raised a hand in greeting Eric.
“Oh hey Bella! Mike, you met my friend Bella huh?”
Mike’s smile slightly faded at that. “Oh, your friend Bella- Tyler son of a bitch-” he whipped around as Tyler, one of the guys she vaguely remembered seeing in gym, slapped the back of Mike’s head before taking off out of the cafeteria, Mike following in pursuit.
Bella turned back to the table. Jessica sat next to her, giving her another stunningly fake smile, Eric on her other side, and an Asian girl with glasses, a camera around her neck and a small nametag that said “Angela” in pen.
Bella gestured at her. “What’s with the nametag?” she asked.
Angela glanced down and up again. “Oh, I’m the photographer for the school newspaper,” she replied, clearly happy someone was curious. “Eric and I both are.”
Bella hummed. “Cool, cool. Anything exciting in the paper?”
Eric sighed next to her, and shook his head dramatically. “Honestly, the coolest thing in months is this new kid named Isabella Swan who moved here from Phoenix, but she said she didn’t want a feature.”
She smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, not a big fan of getting my picture taken.”
Angela nodded in understanding. “It’s okay, I’m like that too. It’s why I stay behind the camera.”
The conversation lulled, and Bella turned to Jessica, who had been pointedly silent the whole time. She was still looking at her, and when their eyes met, she pulled out yet another blindingly fake smile.
“Wow it’s just like first grade all over again,” Jessica mumbled under her breath.
“First grade?” Bella questioned.
“Yeah, you know, you’re the shiny new toy here,” Jessica continued, smiling and nodding.
Bella wasn’t proud of it, but her immediate thought was to take her unopened water bottle and whack her on the back of the head, much like Tyler had done to Mike a minute ago. She promptly shut that thought down, and turned towards Angela again, as Eric waved goodbye to her and walked off.
“So, what are you writing about next?”
Angela sighed. “Eric told me earlier your feature was off the table so, another editorial on teen drinking again I guess.”
Bella chuckled. “You could always go for like, I don’t know, eating habits?” Jessica froze next to her. Fuck. “Or you know, speedo padding on the swim team.” What the fuck was she even saying. Bella decided to just stop talking.
Angela, for some insane reason, perked up at that. “You know what, that’s a pretty good idea.”
At a complete loss for words, Bella just smiled and nodded encouragingly. Every conversation she’d had today was, quite frankly, a little weird, but if she thought about it, they were also kind of entertaining, in a really amusing way.
She listened as Angela and Jessica discussed the school swim team, mentioning a few names she didn’t know, before a group of people moving by the window caught her eye. Her eyes froze on them, two guys and two girls, tracking the group as they came in through the outside door into the cafeteria.
“Who are they?” Bella asked, not taking her eyes off of them.
Angela and Jessica glanced back before turning towards them.
“The Cullens,” Angela answered matter-of-factly.
“They’re Dr. and Mrs. Cullen’s foster kids,” Jessica clarified. “They moved here from Alaska a few years ago.”
“They mostly keep to themselves,” Angela continued. “No one really knows too much about them, honestly.”
Jessica snorted. “They’re like together. Well, some are together, some are together-together. It’s a whole deal.”
Bella crossed her arms and balanced them on the table. “What do you mean?” She leaned forward, genuine curiosity in her voice.
“The blonde girl, Rosalie, and the really buff dark-haired guy, Emmett, they’re, like, a thing.” Jessica whispered, conspiratorially. Bella raised an eyebrow and looked back at the group as they made their way towards an empty table.
Rosalie had long, light blonde hair that looked carefully waved, a gray coat, jeans, and a white scarf wrapped loosely around her neck. A necklace with a huge pendant rested between her collarbone. She had her hands wrapped around one of Emmett’s arms. She was very tall, but he had a few inches on her, a white hoodie and sweatpants set that he completely filled out with muscle. Bella had to admire the dedication.
Honestly, they looked gorgeous together.
“They like, live together, so the whole thing is kind of weird.” Jessica commented.
“They’re not related, Jess,” Angela replied automatically, with the smoothness of someone who had had this conversation multiple times before.
“Well, yeah obviously not, but- ok anyways and then the blond guy that looks like he’s in pain? That’s Jasper, Rosalie’s brother.” Jasper was tall, around the same height as Rosalie, with the same just-short-of-white blond hair but cut shorter, wavy but carefully styled with gel, and wore jeans and a form fitting white jacket. She glanced up at his face and snickered internally. He really did look like he was in pain. He walked in stiffly behind his sister and brother.
“The short girl with the black hair, pixie cut?” Jessica continued. Bella glanced over at the figure who had been hidden behind Jasper until now and-
Wow.
“That’s Alice. She’s-” Jessica heaved a sigh, like something was personally offending her. “She’s really weird,” she finished, right as Alice got up slightly on her toes and walked, almost floatily, towards her family. She had a small smile on her face, like she was thinking about something that made her happy. Bella was just a few inches above five feet tall, but Alice was definitely a few inches shorter than even her.
Beautiful, Bella thought, as the four of them sat in a half circle around their table, facing them. Emett took the leftmost seat, Rosalie next to him, and Jasper sat stiffly next to his sister. Alice left a seat between her and Jasper and sat at the right end.
Bella could vaguely hear Angela and Jessica talking but she kept her head turned almost entirely behind her, watching as Alice fixed the white frills of her puffy sleeved top, and then moved down to straighten out her dark purple vest. Her hands came to rest in her lap as she stared at her nails, almost frozen in place.
She looks like a fairy, Bella’s brain supplied helpfully. A statue of a very pretty fairy.
She felt like she was in some sort of trance, eyes glued on Alice since the moment she had laid eyes on her and now she felt a tug in her gut, the strangest urge to go up to their table and sit next to her, to introduce herself, slamming into her mind. She frowned and shook off the thought.
Alice snapped her eyes up suddenly, seemingly feeling her gaze on her. The faint smile on her face waned, like she had been caught. Bella turned back, face feeling slightly warmer. Angela and Jessica stared at her knowingly. “They’re kinda weird right,” Jessica asked.
Bella gave her a half shrug. Instead of saying what she actually thought, which was that one, everyone here was a little weird, Angela, Jessica, and herself included, and two.
Well.
Alice looked less weird and more just. Really pretty. Like ridiculously pretty. Like was it even possible for someone to be that-
Instead of saying any of that, she responded with, “Sort of, yeah.”
Jessica continued her Cullen family biography. “Dr. Cullen is like some sort of foster dad slash matchmaker.”
Angela clutched her hands together in prayer, eyes squeezing shut dramatically as she looked at the ceiling. “Maybe he’ll adopt me.”
Jessica laughed in response, and Bella glanced up to the window again, watching as a figure speedwalked towards the door and hastily rushed into the cafeteria.
“Who’s he?” Bella pointed towards the door again.
The two girls turned to the door before whipping their heads back again, eyes slightly wider.
“That’s Edward Cullen.” Jessica’s voice lowered. “He’s, like. Totally gorgeous. Apparently, no one here is good enough for him though.” Bella looked him over. He really was good-looking, in a very dark-and-gloomy kind of way. His face looked downcast, like he was deep in thought about something sad. He had thick, straight eyebrows, a sharp jawline, and dark brown, almost black, hair that was messy in a put-together sort of way.
He was strikingly similar to Alice, Bella realized. If Alice looked more like a fairy, more soft and floaty but still sharp, Edward looked more like an elf, mirroring her sharp features but with less playfulness and a more subdued and reserved air.
“Is he Alice’s brother?” Bella asked.
“Pretty sure, yeah,” Angela confirmed.
Right as he made his way past their table, Edward glanced up and made eye contact with Bella.
Bella felt an involuntary shiver go up her spine, a phantom gust of cold air hitting the back of her neck and arms. It wasn’t because of fear, though. It didn’t look like he was angry. Instead, it felt like he was looking right through her.
Bella didn’t know what to make of it.
She gave him a small nod of acknowledgement, not sure what else to do at the slight wave of discomfort washing over her, and watched as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his body tensing for a second before stiffly nodding back and going to his family.
Jessica and Angela, oblivious to what just happened, kept prattling on about how they definitely didn’t want Edward Cullen, and it didn’t matter that Edward Cullen didn’t want anyone there, and how handsome Edward Cullen was and-
Well, it wasn’t like he wasn’t handsome. He definitely was. Gorgeous even. But if Bella was being completely honest, their two-second interaction was enough for Bella to just set him completely aside in her brain.
Bella turned around fully again, that trance-like feeling taking over, and watched as he went to sit in the empty seat between Jasper and Alice, the latter lightly patting the seat to welcome him. Edward sat down, and Alice tapped on his knee before leaning in to whisper in his ear. He leaned back, giving her a stiff nod, and she let out what even Bella could tell from two tables away was a shaky breath.
They both turned towards her simultaneously. Edward looked at her with a blank expression, like his thoughts were elsewhere, but Alice…
When Bella had first looked at her, sitting still and studying her own hands, she had had the distinct thought that she looked like a carved statue, a carefully crafted porcelain doll almost. Now, that quiet stillness, she realized, was more like a carbon copy of her brother’s stiffness. Her expression was almost sick, distinctly uncomfortable. The zoned out, peaceful look on her face was gone, and instead, she, in all honesty, looked like she was seconds away from throwing up.
For probably the fifth time today, Bella had no idea what to make of any of it.
As if goosebump-inducing eye contact with Edward Cullen wasn’t enough, Bella accidentally locked eyes with Alice Cullen, and watched as her eyes narrowed, a stare just short of a full-on glare being sent her way. After what felt like a full minute, Alice let out a slow breath and turned away towards her brother.
Like brother, like sister? Bella thought, questioningly, and turned towards her lunch.