Chapter One
I still could not believe that I had sentenced myself to live in Forks; the wettest place in the whole of the continental US. My stomach churned as the plane took off from Phoenix and began its long journey to Washington. I knew my clothes were way too summery for Forks; I knew I would have to go shopping, which did not cheer me up.
When the plane finally landed and I met Charlie, who was waiting by the police cruiser, outside, I was greeted by an awkward one-arm hug and a gruff hello. Charlie was the Chief of Police to the good people of Forks, which was also one of the reasons why I really wanted a vehicle of my own; I was not going to catch a lift in a car with lights on the roof every single day. Fortunately, I didn't need to.
When we got to Charlie's two storey house in this green, alien world, I saw a rather old looking truck in the drive way. Its red colour was faded but it still looked all right and the best thing was that I could see myself drive it. I actually thought about hugging Charlie at that point but that would have embarressed him into his grave!
My room was the same, only now it had dark blue walls, cream curtains, a proper laptop and purple duvet and pillow set.
"Purple is okay, right?" Charlie had asked uncertainly.
"Purple's cool," I reassured.
"Good," he said and left rather awkwardly. That was one of the best things about Charlie; he never hovered.
The next day was not only cold and wet but I had to follow signs just to get to school. The parking lot outside the red-bricked buildings was full of fancy looking sports cars and SUVs but I didn't care that by truck looked hideous compared to them. I noticed that there was only one motorbike in the lot; an awesome red, black and white one.
"Nice ride," a non-Caucasian guy with a snide smirk and cropped black hair said in a snarky tone.
"Thanks," I muttered, looking down.
"Nice one, Ty," the blonde girl next to him said, giggling.
I went into the Reception to collect my timetable. The Reception was lovely and warm; the receptionist was just as friendly.
"I'm Isabella Swan," I said.
"Ah, yes," she said. "Welcome to Forks High School. Here is your timetable; I hope you enjoy yourself here."
I really wanted to say Yeah, I highly doubt that but me being me, which is too polite for my own good, said Yes I'm sure I will. I seriously needed to grow a backbone and fast!
As I left the Reception, an Asian looking guy with spiked-ish hair and a face full of joy came up to me. "Hi, you're Isabella Swan, right?" he said.
"Bella," I corrected.
"OK, I'm Eric. I will be your tour guide today, or lunch partner, or just a general shoulder to cry on," he said really quickly. "I will also be your eyes and ears. Just ask me anything."
"OK, thanks," I said. "But I really am a 'suffer in silence' person."
"That's okay! Just as long as you stay away from Marco and his friends," Eric said. "School bullies who will pick on asbolutely anyone! Well, maybe execpt two - the Cullens and of course the English girl."
My ears pricked up at that. "English girl?"
"Yeah. She arrived two months ago and has been the only one who can stand up to Marco and his gang without being knocked out," Eric said. "That girl has so much fire that she could set the whole town in a blaze if she wanted to!"
"She sounds like someone I used to know," I said. "She moved away to England when we were around five."
"Oh, cool," he said. "So, what have you got first?"
"English."
"Me too! Come on!"
As I moved around the school, I tried to ignore the many gazes of intrigue I was receiving; I always hated the lime-light. I was thankful for Eric to accompany me to the English classroom. I sat next to a girl named Angela Webber who was really smart and also really nice. Fortunately, I didn't need to introduce myself to the class.
In Spanish I did, however, and it was the most embarressing thing ever. I made a friend in there as well named Jessica, who was probably the most inane chattterbox I had ever met since Rigan left for England.
Her full name was Morrigan Alexa Wilson. She had been adopted at birth but then her parents decided to move her to England because their job required them to go to Europe but they could not take her along with them; staying with me was apparently out of the question, even though we had been practically sisters. Rigan had mischievious jade irises, milk chocolate curls that full to her shoulders and a symmetrical face.
At Gym, I was still thinking about her. Kind of stupid seeing as a) I was a klutz and couldn't do sport and b) because I hit the ball onto the head of a basketballer who was OK looking.
"Sorry!" I said. "I'm so sorry. I told them not to let me play."
"Hey, no, it's OK," he reassured, smiling at me. "I'm Mike."
"Bella," I said.
Jessica jogged over to us.
Mike didn't seem to see her.
"You're from Arizona, right?" Jessica said. "Aren't people from Arizona supposed to be really tanned?"
"Yeah," I agreed. "Maybe that's why they kicked me out."
Mike and Jessica started to laugh.
"Good one!" Mike told me.
"Yeah!" Jessica agreed.
I smiled weakly. I was thankful though that they came with me to the cafeteria, followed by Angela Webber and Eric. Mike even pulled my chair out for me, which was when he and Eric started to throw snarky remarks at each other.
"You're the shiny new toy, Bella," Jessica said, giggling.
I smiled weakly.
Just then, the door to the cafeteria opened again. In stepped a supermodelesque girl with blonde hair hand in hand with a very brawly black haired boy with a permanent smirk on his face. They were followed by a pixie-like girl with her hair spiked at the ends and a honey haired guy who looked slightly uneasy.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"The Cullens," Angela answered. "They moved down here from Alaska a couple of months back. They are Dr. and Mrs Cullen's foster kids."
"The blonde girl's Rosalie," Jessica added. "She's with the dark haired guy named Emmett; you know, they're a thing. I'm not even sure if that is legal."
"Jess, they aren't actually related," Angela pointed out.
"Yes, but they live together. It's weird. Okay; the smaller girl is Alice and she's with Jasper, the guy who looks like he's in eternal pain. And the guy with bronze hair who just walked in is Edward Cullen. Totally gorgeous but apparently no one here is good enough for him." Jessica laughed. "Like I care, but seriously, don't waste your time."
"Wasn't planning on it," I reassured her.
Just then, the door crashed open and in stormed a group of boys and girl. The guys were dressed in hoodies while the girl was dressed in skin tight leather skinnies, Demonica flat boots and a red leather jacket.
"Uh-oh, here we go again," Jessica said. "Marco and his mates have pissed her off."
Every eye had turned to the arguement; even the Cullens turned to watch.
"I'm going to pound your miserable ass into the North Atlantic Ocean!" the girl shouted in a very clear British accent.
"I'd like to see you try!" the leader, who I guessed was Marco, shouted back. "You're a girl; you can't even fight properly."
"Come here and say that!"
He made the mistake of drawing closer. He got a face full of Demonica sole and then a knuckle sandwich.
She then smiled in satisfaction and shook the milk chocolate curls from her eyes, which was when I saw they were jade! I laughed and stood up. "Picking fights in school again, Rigan?! You never change!"
The girl whipped round. It was Rigan! She blinked a couple of times before delight crossed her faced. "BELLA!" she shrieked and charge towards me and soon had me in one of her bone crunching hugs. "I'm dreaming. Someone pinch me!"
She released me. It was shocking to see how pretty she had become but also to see that she had adoped a very dark look; then again, bright colours drained her because of her skin tone.
"Why the hell did you not tell me you were here?!" I shouted at her.
Rigan winked. "Where's the fun in just telling?" she said playfully. She then glared at Marco, who was holding a tissue to his nosebleed, and his gang. "What ya looking at?!" she shouted. "Go back to your low lives!"
"You just wait, Wilson!" Marcon shouted from behind his tissues. "You'll pay!"
"That's what you said the last time, coward!" Rigan shouted. "All mouth but no trousers with you."
Marco's gang had to restrain him at that point. Rigan smirked nastily at him. "AWWW! You need your little amigos to stop you from doing something that will get you killed! So cute!"
Rigan laughed when Marco started to thrash about, trying to pull himself from the grip of his friends.
"Was that really necessary?" I asked her.
Some people gave hushed gasps. I took that no one had ever challenged Rigan since she came here. She had a very solid reputation around her in just a few months; yep, nothing changed!
To most people's surprise, Rigan laughed. "No, but it's fun! He picks on others, so I give him a taste of his own medicine. I guess I haven't made the best of impressions on these suckers."
"You've got that right," Jessica agreed.
Rigan laughed. "Ooops." she said. Then she grinned at me. "What have you got after lunch?"
"Trig," I answered.
"Unlucky," she said. "But then again, you were always very intelligent."
"So are you," I pointed out.
"Bella, how come you know Rigan?" Angela asked, trying to make conversation.
Rigan winked at me and I grinned. "Well, Rigan and I are childhood friends," I replied. "Every summer when I came here, Rigan would be like the sister I never had."
"Awwwwww!" Rigan squealed, wrapping her arms around me. "That is the sweetest thing you've ever said to me. That, and that you thought my singing and dancing were good for that concert that you signed me up for! I still need to plot my revenge for that!"
I chuckled. "England has made you tougher," I said.
"Thank you!" Rigan said brightly. Then she glared towards the Cullen table. "Ugh! Those freaks are looking at you."
I turned just in time to see Alice and Edward Cullen look away from me.
"You don't like them?" I guessed.
"Hell effing no," Rigan agreed, shooting dagger glares at the god-like family. "They think just because their foster daddy is so rich and powerful in this town that they run this place!"
"Sssh!" I hushed as her tone increased.
But, Rigan being Rigan, she was far from done. "I bet those stupid foster brothers are weaker than Marco and his bloody gang!"
"You're making them glare at you."
"Tell them to kiss my ass."
When the bell rang, Rigan grinned at me. "I'll come round yours later. We seriously have a lot of catching up to do." She then did a few elegant, fluid cartwheels between the tables without knocking into anyone or anything and she was out of the door.
Mike chuckled. "Who would have thought that Bella and Rigan would know each other?" he said.
I survived Trig, French and History before my last lesson; Biology. Of course, Mike had insisted on escorting me.
The teacher was Mr Molina. He looked average enough with his glasses and typical trouser with shirt look. "You must be Miss Swan," he said as I came in and gave him a polite smile in greeting.
As I walked in, I passed the air conditioning fan. I also saw Edward Cullen on his on at a bench; he had been staring at me but now he was covering his nose as if he had just caught the wiff of something bad.
Unfortunately, I had to sit next to him. I took in a wiff of my hair as I sat down; it just smelled like strawberry and poppies, my favourite shampoo. It seemed like an innocent enough odor. Slightly insulted, I let my hair fall down my right shoulder, putting a dark curtain between us.
Unfortunately the class was about cellular anatomy; a class I had already done. The fact that Edward Cullen was trying to kill me with his glaring did not help to ease the lesson either, so I was very thankful when it was all over and the bell rang to signal the end of the school day.
Before meeting up with Rigan, I went to the Reception and Edward came out of the Reception, looking furious and almost knocked me to the floor in his haste. He glared at me with disdain.
"Oi! Cullen! Pick on someone who doesn't have respect!"
Rigan came flouncing like a catwalk model down the corridor, her eyes murderous and not leaving Edward. The protective and aggressive stance that she had adopted was a tell tale sign that he had done something to earn her hate; if looks could kill, Edward would be rotting on the floor.
"It was an accident," Edward said through gritted teeth, his steely glare fighting Rigan's. "Maybe you should have asked me if I had done that deliberately before making assumptions."
"You and your kind are all the same, Cullen," Rigan snarled. "I don't need to ask."
Edward turned and walked away while Rigan rolled her eyes at me. "Typical Cullen," she said to me. "Come on. I'll play bodyguard. It's time to play Catch-up."
When we got to my house and she saw my room, Rigan grinned. "I can't believe you still have this room!"
I shrugged. "I was raised in it so it's stuck," I said.
"Love history!" Rigan said, flinging herself onto my bed. "I've missed you, Bells," she said. "Life in England was great but I kind of needed to get back to . . . . normality."
"What happened to you when you left?" I asked.
Rigan laughed. "Where shall I begin?! I was sent to a boarding school for boys and girls but it was far from ordinary; life hardly seemed to be boring! I actually did pretty well at school; good grades but still caused the odd trouble now and again. Then, I got signed up for an assignment that is really difficult; that is why I am here."
"An assignment?" I repeated.
"Yep," Rigan said. "Recently, Forks has been experiencing an unsual amount of animal attacks. People I know who know people who are high up in life are suspicious of these attacks and want me to check it out."
"You?" I said skeptically.
"Yep, which means you must respect me." Rigan then smiled at me. "So, what about you Bella Stella? What's new?"
"Nothing," I admitted. "Nothing at all."
Rigan scoffed at that. "That's not strictly true, chica," she said, seeing my raised eyebrows. "I mean, Edward Cullen; that look of fury was shocking. What did you do to make him hate you so much? Did you stuff garlic down his throat?"
I sighed. "No. I don't know what I did. I came into class, passed the fan and-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back this tractor trailer up! Did you say that you passed a fan and that made him look set to murder you?!"
"Yeah," I said sheepishly.
Rigan's expression suddenly turned serious, which usually meant something was not right. "Isabella Swan, you really must listen to me. That was a wreckless thing to do. The Cullens are dangerous and you should do well in remembering that. Nothing good ever comes to a person assosicated with a Cullen."
I was surprised by this. Rigan had been living in England for more than seven years and yet she talked in a way that suggested that she already knew the Cullens and that she knew something about them that no one else did.
"You're being serious, aren't you?" I said quietly, after a while.
"I've never been more serious in my life, chica! I will not lose my sister to her own stupidity!"
"And what about you?"
"We both know that I am too impulsive for my own good. Call me a hypocrite for all I care!"
I smiled at Rigan and she grinned broadly back. Her smile was always my favourite feature about Rigan; it could light up the dark side of the Moon if it wanted to.
Rigan then sat up, grinning. "Can we order a pizza? I'm starving!"
That made me laugh. Rigan seemed to be frozen in time; the amount she could eat without to put on visible weight was still there! Usually I would have not agreed to it but this was Rigan and not Charlie.
She made me watch The Mortal Instruments: the City of Bones with her. Rigan was always interested in stuff to do with magic, myth, murder or espinage and like all the other things, that had not changed in the slightest.
Apart from maybe one thing. There was a time Rigan would tell me everything out straight but now, I knew she was hiding something. Something about the Cullens, something about the real reason she was here, something about her life in England.
Why wouldn't she tell me?