Twilight OC Rewrite VERSION TWO

Chapter One: First Sight

Breakfast with Dad was a quiet event. He wished us good luck at school and we thanked him, knowing his hope was wasted. Good luck tended to avoid us both. Charlie left first, off to the police station that was his wife and family. After he left, we sat at the old square oak table in two of the four unmatching chairs and examined his small kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright yellow cabinets, and white linoleum floor.

Nothing has changed. Our mom had painted the cabinets eighteen years ago in an attempt to bring some sunshine into the house. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First, a wedding picture of Charlie and Renee in Las Vegas, then one of the four of us in the hospital after we were born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by a procession of school pictures up to last year's.

I didn't want to be too early to school, but Bella couldn't stay in the house anymore. We donned our jackets and headed out into the rain.

It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak us through immediately as I reached for the house key that was always hidden under the eaves by the door and locked up. The sloshing of new waterproof boots replacing the crunch of gravel as we walked.

Inside the truck, it was nice and dry. Either Billy or Dad had obviously cleaned it up, but the tan upholstered seats still smelled faintly of tobacco, gasoline, and peppermint. The engine started quickly, but loudly, roaring to life and then idling at top volume. The antique radio worked, a plus that we hadn't expected.

Finding the school wasn't difficult, though we'd never been there before. The school was, like most other things, just off the highway. It wasn't obvious that it was a school; only the sign, which declared it to be Forks High School, made Bella stop driving. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs that we couldn't see its size at first.

Bella parked in front of the first building, which has a small sign over the door reading front office. No one else was parked there, so I was sure it was off limits. We stepped out of the truck cab and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges, taking a deep breath together before opening the door. Inside, it was bright and warm. There was a red-haired woman at the reception desk as we walked forward.

The woman looked up, "Can I help you?"

"Isabella and Alexandra Swan," Bella said and I noticed the immediate awareness in the woman's eyes. Daughters of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last.

"Of course," she said. "I have your schedules right here, and a map of the school."

Looking at the papers as the desk lady excitedly rambled on about the best routes to each class, we showed each other our schedules and noticed that we have every single class together. Fine by me, and I know my sister agreed. As we were both new and anti-social, we preferred to stay together in most any situation. We were very close, bonded by not only being the same age, but parenting each other as our mother was too hair-brained to participate in that too terribly much.

After moving the truck to the appropriate parking spot, we made our way around the cafeteria, building three, to reach our class. I held Bella's arm for comfort and she grasped my hand as we approached the door.

The classroom was small. The people in front of us stopped just inside to hang up their coats and we followed suit. Taking the slips up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason, he gawked at us when he read our names — not an encouraging response. He sent us to sit with each other at an empty desk in the back without introducing us to the class, thankfully. It was harder for our classmates to stare at us in the back, but somehow, they managed. Keeping our heads lowered, we studied the reading list given to us together. It was fairly basic: Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. I'd already read everything on the list, which was comforting, and Bella had read most, the rest of which I could fill her in on.