Chapter 7: Family
Family
I bit my lip again, mulling over how to begin. I could feel six pairs of golden eyes looking at me, but they weren't making me uncomfortable. I felt Alice standing near me for a moment before she vanished and reappeared with another chair, which she placed next to me and sat in.
"You really don't have to say anything, Bella," Alice murmured soothingly.
I looked at her, absorbing the friendliness and warmth from her honey eyes.
"Thanks, but you guys have been so good to me. It's not that big of a deal or anything, I just don't like talking much about it," I admitted.
Alice placed her hand on my shoulder reassuringly. I smiled at the gesture, but it wasn't a big smile. I didn't want to talk about it, true, but they had been so good to me. I think they have a right to know. I mean, it wasn't some big secret or anything.
Still, when I thought about the sense of family that they had, I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Jealous that Alice and her siblings had a mother and father that loved and accepted them, despite their differences in personality and interests. I hated to think that way, but I couldn't help myself.
I felt another wave of calm envelop me and realized that Jasper was trying to help me out. I gave him an appreciate smile before sighing again. I sigh a lot when I'm nervous, what can I say?
"Alright, so...where to begin..." I mused.
"Where were you born?" Alice offered.
"Okay. I was born in Phoenix, Arizona, but we moved down here to Forks a few weeks later. I barely remember because I was so young at the time, but I know I lived here for a few years. When I was five, my mother got a divorce with my father. I don't recall the reasons, but apparently they disagreed on one too many things, me included."
I stopped for a moment and thought back to my memory of that day. It was a bit faded, since I was so young at the time, but most of it was pretty clear.
Charlie and Renee had married young because they fell in love with each other, or so they initially thought. Truth be told, they were both partially drunk the night they met, which they found out later on. Things started out okay between them, but as their relationship progressed; their inner demons became more prominent, causing hellacious problems between the two.
Charlie was a mild mannered man who liked to drink, watch sports on TV and party, but he wasn't an angry drunk or an abusive drunk. He had grown up in a poor family and had been forced to figure out life on his own at a young age when his parents had kicked him out. This had hardened him up a bit and caused him to take on some of his parents morals. He had dated three people in the past, but none of the relationships had lasted too long. They all ended for the same reason: his moralistic views and behavior.
Renee, on the other hand, was pompous and greedy. She acted like she cared, but it was all fake. She wanted a husband that would take care of her and didn't want to get a job, instead wanting to spend time going shopping for herself and spending time with people who practically worshipped the ground she walked on. She had always been popular and well liked despite her self-centeredness. Like Charlie, she enjoyed drinking and going out. Unlike Charlie, though, she was not a mellow drunk. She was abusive.
They married each other because they were convinced the feelings they had were real, when in reality they only married because of their "private life". That was it. There was no love. There wasn't even friendship. They could only tolerate one another for so long before they went off and did other things. That is, until I was born. Looking back, I knew my birth was an accident. Renee never wanted any children. She hadn't planned on having a child. But she did.
