Chapter 1 – The Unexpected Storm

PRESENT DAY 8/6/2016

I can't find the stupid remote control, and I have two minutes before Storm Riders comes on. If I miss it, I'm going to be pissed.

"Have you seen the remote?"

Edward shakes his head, not bothering to look up from his book. He's a lot of help. I'm about ready to start rocking and wringing my hands, spouting off craziness like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Two minutes until Storm Riders! Two minutes! Until! Storm Riders!

"Wait," he looks up but not at me. "Maybe check in the bedroom. I think I was holding it when I put the folded clothes in there."

Finally, some help. Some direction! Edward did this kind of stuff all the time. He never left the remote where it belonged. He carried it into the kitchen or into the bedroom. Being roommates the last few months has been eye opening. I run into the bedroom and start searching the entire room. I look by the pile of clothes that he left on the bed. I look on both nightstands. Nothing. I look on the dresser and in the bathroom. I would've killed him if it was in there because it's totally gross to bring the remote in the bathroom.

The damn thing is nowhere. I get down on my hands and knees and look under the bed. Bingo. It's right next to some book. I grab both so later Edward's not asking me where his book ran off to. The leather bound book is more of a journal than a book. Maybe the word JOURNAL embossed on the cover is a dead giveaway. I didn't know Edward kept a journal. We live together for heaven's sake and I didn't know he had a journal? How is this possible?

Storm Riders is most definitely starting as my thumb brushes against the worn edges of the journal pages. I wonder if he writes in this thing every night or just sometimes. I look over my shoulder at the door. He's obviously not coming to help me find the remote.

It would be very, very, very wrong of me to read this journal. It would be a complete violation of trust. An invasion of his privacy.

Guess he should have helped me find the stupid remote.

When I open it, a loose piece of paper flutters out. It's a note written to me. No need to feel guilty now.

Isabella,

When I met you, I never imagined the impact you would have on my life. I didn't even really like you the first time we spoke. You were definitely not part of my big plan. I was running away. I was going to find my true happiness. What I didn't know was I found it that day at the beach. Hiding behind the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen and a know-it-all attitude was the person with whom I will spend the rest of my life.

I'm surprised by the way his words affect me. I look at the first entry in the journal and see it's dated the day we met. I smile when I read the thoughts of a teen-aged Edward.

8/6/2010

Hung out with Rosalie and her friends at some beach today. Rose has like a million friends. It's hard to get used to. Everyone is pretty nice, but it's hard not to feel overwhelmed. Do all high school girls feel the need to talk at the same time? And do they always have to be in a pack of at least three? It's weird. Speaking of weird, I met Emmett's cousin today. She isn't like the other girls. Doesn't need three other girls to walk her from one place to another. She's quiet most of the time, too. Of course when she does speak, it's never what I think she's going to say. I don't think she likes me very much. Emmett was sure we'd hit it off. I don't know. I think I annoy her for some reason. Oh yeah, maybe because I wanted to annoy her when she was acting all bitchy. There's something about her, though. She's intriguing. And kind of beautiful. Not that it should matter if she's good looking or not, but it's nice that she is. I guess this is what it's like to be an normal teenage guy. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I'm having fun while I figure it out.

Memories overtake me and I am suddenly transported back in time. Back to the beginning. The start of my storm chasing...

"La Push, baby!" Jessica shouted as she stepped out of the van.

Mike shut the door behind her and took her hand. "The waves look good. I just hope it doesn't rain."

I shoved my hands into the front pocket of my worn out Forks High hoodie as they unstrapped the surfboards from the roof of the van. "It's not supposed to rain. We're supposed to have a clear day and night because of the stable air pressure over most of the west coast right now. We should be fine as long as there's no shift in the pressure."

"Thank goodness we brought the weather girl with us. I love hearing about shifting pressure. Don't I, Lauren? You wanna shift my pressure?" Tyler wrapped his arms around Lauren, mocking me like he always did and earning himself an elbow to the ribs.

"Don't touch me, you jackass," she warned. They weren't dating, but everyone knew they were friends with benefits. I never understood that concept. If you were willing to have sex with a guy, why wouldn't you be willing to call him your boyfriend? It wasn't like either one of them was having sex with anyone else. It seemed silly to me.

I didn't know why I agreed to come today. Angela had told me it was only going to be the girls. When Tyler's van pulled up this morning, I should have pretended to be sick. This was their lame attempt to get me and Eric together. Angela was so determined to make it happen. I was ready to give in, just to prove to them what a terrible couple we would make.

"Hey, Bella, you gonna watch me hang ten out there?" Speak of the devil. Eric Yorkie nudged me with his elbow.

"Um, sure, Eric. I can't wait for you get out there," I said, meaning every word. The sooner he was in the water, the sooner he would leave me alone.

We all made it down to the beach and everyone who was surfing zipped up their wet suits and headed out. Angela and I laid out some beach blankets and sat down. I kicked off my shoes and pushed my toes into the sand. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I looked out at the ocean.

"Eric is such a nice guy, isn't he?" Angela was not going to give up. "I heard he's going to be in charge of the music for the Homecoming dance. You like music. Maybe you and Eric could, I don't know, be in charge of it together."

I tried not to roll my eyes. "I don't think Eric and I have the same taste in music, Ang. I'm not very mainstream." Meaning I had taste and Eric was a mindless sheep who liked whatever iTunes told him was most popular week to week.

She put her hand on my back, as if she was comforting a small child. "Oh, Bella. If you tried to fit in, you would. I know you would."

Angela and I had been friends since we were little. She stuck with me through thick and thin. She even got people like Lauren and Jessica to include me every now and then. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate everything she did as my friend. I just didn't see why I needed to fit in. I didn't need Jessica and Lauren to like me anymore than they already did. I didn't need to date Eric to be cool. I wasn't cool. I was never going to be cool. I was totally okay with that.

I was going to leave Forks, Washington as soon as I graduated and never look back. I was going to go to college, become a meteorologist, and work for the National Weather Service. Everyone thought I was weird and that was fine. I knew exactly where I was headed. One more year of high school and then my life would really begin.

"Fitting in is totally overrated," I said, noticing some guys throwing a football around. One of them was most definitely my cousin.

Emmett McCarty was my mother's sister's son. We were the same age but couldn't be more different. He came to live with us a year ago when he got himself in some trouble and needed a "fresh start" somewhere else. Somehow his checkered past made him the most interesting person to attend Fork High School. That combined with his abilities on the football field made him extremely popular. Sometimes, though, I got the feeling that wasn't what he wanted to happen when he came to live in Forks. Constantly being in the spotlight had been part of the problem that landed him here. I couldn't help but think that Emmett didn't always like being popular. Being popular had a price.

I watched as some guy threw the football towards me and Angela. Emmett was running for it and had to dive to catch it. He landed right in front of us and sent sand flying in my face and hair.

"Emmett!" I spat both his name and sand out of my mouth. I stood up and tried shaking the sand off.

"Hey, Bells. Charlie said you were coming today. I thought he was kidding." That was Em's nice way of saying he was surprised someone had invited me to hang out.

"Well, he wasn't. Can't you and your idiot friends throw the ball where you won't tackle innocent bystanders?"

"I didn't tackle you." His nose scrunched up. He looked puzzled.

"Wow! That was an amazing catch!"

I looked up and saw someone I did not recognize. He was shirtless, which really had nothing to do with anything but for some reason was the main thing my brain focused on. He was tall and well-built. He wasn't too muscular like Emmett. He was leaner, but you could tell he worked out. Not that any of that mattered either. He had hair that wasn't brown or red but something in between, and it was in complete disarray on top of his head. He was also breathtakingly beautiful. Being beautiful didn't make him any less of a jerk, though.

"Were you trying to throw the ball at us or do you just have really bad aim?" I asked, ignoring his pretty face and his bright green eyes and his chiseled jaw and his tanned chest.

"I overshot it a little, I guess, but you have to admit that was a pretty amazing catch," he replied with some weird lopsided grin.

No apology. Nice.

"A little? More like a lot."

"If it had been off by a lot then Emmett wouldn't have been able to catch it. So, it must have been only off by a little."

"It was off by a lot."

"A little." He crossed his arms across his chest, making his forearms look really, really big.

"A lot," I continued to argue because the size of his arms was not going to distract me from being right.

Emmett decided to intervene. "Bella, this is Edward, Rosalie's cousin. He moved in with the Cullens this summer kind of like I moved in with you last year. Edward, this is Bella Swan, my cousin." Em smiled brightly. "Hey, if Rose and I get married someday will that make you guys cousins?" His boisterous laughter did nothing to improve my mood.

"I hope not," Edward and I both mumbled at the same time. We then both arched a brow at the other. Good to know neither one of us wished to be related.

"Sorry for the sand shower. We'll try to stay on our side of the beach from now on. I promise."

"We absolutely promise. Wouldn't want to cause that stick to go any further up your ass. That could be painful," Edward said as the two of them jogged away. "Pleasure to meet you, Bella and her friend no one introduced me to!" He playfully punched at Emmett, who punched back, causing Edward to stumble a couple steps.

My jaw dropped at his audacity. Angela stared at their retreating figures.

"What an ass," I complained.

"I know. It's got to be one of the nicest asses I've seen in a long time. Did you see his arms? His body was...I don't even have words that would do that boy justice." Angela was practically drooling.

"I meant he's an ass, not look at his ass! Did you hear him or did you only look at him?"

"He's pretty," she said with a sigh.

I shook my head. She wasn't listening to a word I said. I sat back down and watched as Emmett and Edward continued their game of catch further down the beach. The Cullens had taken in someone like we took in Emmett. It was no surprise he was drop dead gorgeous. The Cullens all were. Probably a troublemaker. Forks was becoming the place everyone sent their delinquent children. I couldn't wait for this school year to begin and end.

"I can't believe he noticed me. Did you hear him call me the friend no one introduced him to?" All the dreaminess faded and Angela turned on me like I was the enemy. "Why didn't you introduce me? Some friend you are!"

My forehead pressed to my knees. I looked out at the water in front of us. "Oh hey, Ben. Angela and I were just talking about how hot Rosalie Cullen's cousin is. Isn't that super interesting?" Of course her boyfriend Ben wasn't really there, but my rouse did snap my best friend out of the spell Mr. Overshotbyalot had over her.

Angela laughed and gave me a push on the shoulder. "Come on, admit it. He is hot."

"When you admit he was an ass, I'll admit he's hot."

"He's so hot. Deny it all you want."

The conversation was officially over. I was not going to discuss his hotness. I did catch myself staring at his hotness occasionally but convinced myself it was for safety reasons. I needed to be sure he wasn't going to throw any more footballs at me. I would not take a ball to the nose as gracefully as Marcia Brady. I would knee him in his beautiful groin, not that I knew his groin was beautiful or was even thinking about his groin because I wasn't.

The day turned into night. There was a huge bonfire that everyone who went to Forks High gathered around. Lauren was flirting with Emmett. I was fairly certain he was the only reason she ever gave me the time of day. It was beginning to piss off Rosalie, and I could see that there was going to be a problem soon if Emmett didn't shut Lauren down. Rosalie was your typical head cheerleader, soon-to-be Homecoming Queen, destined to be Prom Queen. She also had claws that could take out anyone who messed with something she had staked a claim to; currently, her flag was firmly planted in Emmett. I contemplated cluing him in but figured learning the hard way was sometimes the only way to truly be taught the important lessons in life.

I couldn't worry too much about Emmett because I needed to stay focused on my current mission of avoiding Eric. He was a little bit relentless. He was my constant companion once they finished surfing. When he was finally distracted by food, I was able to get away. I was currently hiding behind a huge piece of driftwood away from the party.

"Storm's coming. We shouldn't stay too much longer." Edward's voice made my body tingle. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He was behind me, but I refused to look at him.

"According to all the computer models, it should be clear all night. No rain in the forecast until late tomorrow." I knew my stuff. I wasn't going to come to the beach without checking the forecast, radar, and storm trackers.

Edward laughed like I was trying to be funny. I wasn't. "Computer models don't have what I have."

I turned to face him because I had to see if his ego was actually visible. "What is it that you have that computers don't?"

He was finally wearing a shirt but still had that cocky grin. "A feeling."

"You have a feeling? That's your big advantage over sophisticated meteorological technology?" Was he kidding me? It was my turn to laugh.

"Can't you feel when a storm is coming?" He grabbed my wrist and his other hand pushed my sweatshirt up towards my elbow. "The air changes. Sometimes I can feel the electricity in it." His free hand hovered over my forearm, which began to tingle in a what-the-hell-is-happening-to-me kind of way. He was looking up at the sky as if he actually believed what he was saying. Then his gaze fell solidly on me. "Don't you? I can almost always tell when there's a storm brewing. Especially a thunderstorm."

I was trembling, and the whole idea that this boy could have that effect on me was freaking me out. Why in the world was my body reacting to this guy? This delinquent sent to live with his aunt and uncle. I pulled my arm out of his grasp and the tingling stopped.

"Almost always?" I questioned, regaining my composure and snark. "So, I guess that would make you wrong sometimes?"

He didn't flinch. He looked me straight in the eye. "Sometimes. Rarely," he corrected.

I wanted to look away. I wanted to run away, but my feet were firmly planted and my eyes were glued to his. "Well, I think today is one of those rare times."

"I don't think so. It's kind of like my football throwing. I might be a little off but never a lot." He was so annoying that I had to turn away. For some reason he took that to mean he could join me on the driftwood. "How come you're over here all by yourself? Nobody good enough for your company?"

I looked over my shoulder at the large group of people around the bonfire. Some were my friends. Most were not. I knew everyone. They knew my name. They knew I was different. But no one, except for Angela, really knew me.

"I'm not a snob, if that's what you think. I have no problem with most of the people over there. I'm just not really part of the popular crowd. My best friend is desperately trying to fit in with them. I'm usually content hanging out by myself. Alone." Take a hint, pal. He was making me nervous, which was stupid because he was of no importance to me.

"I'm not sure what being popular means. I think people should like the people they like, not who people tell them to like," he said with a shrug. I actually agreed with that, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "Your cousin is nice. I like him."

Of course he liked Emmett. Everyone liked Em. He was the definition of likeable.

"How come you aren't over there?" I asked, hoping he'd take his pretty eyes and storm-feeling body back to the bonfire.

The look on his face told me he got it. "I'm not trying to bug you. I'm just not used to being around so many kids at the same time."

I wanted to ask him how many kids went to his last school. If this group made him anxious, walking around campus was going to destroy him.

"I also wanted to apologize for getting you sandy and then for saying that thing about the stick up your ass. I totally should not talk about girls' asses. It's rude. My mother would literally have a heart attack if she knew I said that. She raised me better than that and...yeah, well, you know." Gone was his earlier bravado. He seemed humble and kind of sweet.

"Apology accepted."

He glanced my way before looking out over the dark ocean. The waves were rolling in large and loudly. He shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled shyly at me for a second that felt more like a lifetime. Was he smiling at me? Silly girl, I chided myself. Boys like this did not smile at girls like me. Never had, never would. He wasn't my type anyway.

"Have you lived here your whole life?"

I nodded. I had grown up in Forks, but was going to leave as soon as I got the chance. "Where are you from?" I found myself asking even though I knew better than to encourage this conversation.

"Chicago."

I didn't know what to do with that information other than to spout off what I knew about his hometown. "Did you know that even though Chicago is called the Windy City, it doesn't even rank in the top ten windiest cities in the US?"

"Really?" Eyes were wide with surprise.

"Really. Blue Hill, Massachusetts is actually the windiest city."

"Huh, I would have put money on Chicago being in the top ten at least."

"I could have made money off this knowledge? I'll have to remember that next time."

We both laughed as lightning lit up the sky a few miles away. I nearly fell off the log.

"Told ya," he said like the cocky bastard I thought he was.

Weather was predictable, but it wasn't an exact science. Edward's "feeling" on the other hand was just luck. This was totally unexpected.

"There must be an upper air disturbance approaching. It didn't seem warm enough today for this to be caused by lower troposphere instability."

Edward's eyebrows pushed together. "Huh?"

I stood up and began to walk away, leaving a confused Edward behind. If it was going to rain, I was going home.

"What's a troposphere?" he asked as he jogged to catch up with me.

"Never mind."

"You are a strange girl, Bella."

Nothing I hadn't heard a million times before, but it still stung. "Yeah, I know."

The rain began to fall and everyone around the bonfire let out a collective groan. Edward stayed with me even when we were only a few feet from the crowd. Angela ran over to us, linking her arm with mine.

"Looks like a storm. You want to go?"

I nodded and started pulling her in the direction of the van.

"I guess I'll see you around, Bella and her friend no one introduced me to." Edward's voice surprised me once again. Angela nudged me in the ribs with her elbow.

I glared at her glaring at me. I turned to Edward. "Yeah, see ya around."

I was strange? He was so weird. He was lousy at throwing footballs, thought he could predict the weather by feeling the storm coming, and hung out with me instead of the twenty some other girls here who probably would have done anything to get one on one time with him because he was hot.

I had to admit it. He was all sorts of beautiful to look at. But a jerk, I told myself. Definitely a jerk. He must be. He probably got some girl knocked up back home and shamed his family, so they sent him here. Or maybe he bullied some kid so bad they had to send him to Forks to avoid prosecution. Or maybe he was a part of some huge high school boys basketball team hazing scandal. I was going to have to Google him when I got home.

He stared at me for a minute like he was trying to figure me out while I tried to figure him out, then he took off running to catch up to Rosalie, who was heading for the parking lot.

"Thanks a lot! He still doesn't know my name!" Angela complained loudly.

"Sorry." I shook my head, trying to rid myself of all thoughts Edward Cullen. "Why do you care if he knows your name anyway? He's just some guy. Nothing special."

"Nothing special?" The rain began to fall harder. We were beginning to get very wet. "Oh, Bella. Deny it all you want. There's something special about him; that's for sure."

I was in no mood to argue. We ran to the van and climbed in. Eric had saved me a spot. Great.

"So, was that Cullen guy bothering you?"

"Bothering me?"

"Yeah, I mean, he came up to me after you disappeared and asked if you were my girlfriend." My mouth fell open at Eric's confession. He picked up on my concern.

"I told him no because you're not. Obviously. N-n-n-not that I don't want you to be just you aren't... yet, so I didn't want to lie," he stammered.

Edward asked Eric if I was Eric's girl? What the hell?

My mind began to spin as Eric continued to blather on, "Then I saw you and him come up from down the beach when the rain started. I hope he wasn't bothering you. I should have told him you were my girlfriend, maybe then he would have left you alone. He's probably one of those jock types who thinks he has to conquer the whole school before he graduates, you know?"

Did I know? Was that what he was? A player trying to get in as many easy small town girls before he went back to his world? Why would he start with me? Seemed like a poor strategy. There were girls at the beach a whole hell of a lot easier than me.

"I'm glad he brought it up, though, because I was wondering about something. Do you maybe want to go out? With me? Like a date?"

I stared at Eric, looking him square in the face but not really seeing him at all. All I saw were green eyes and bronze hair and some crazy smile that only made half his mouth look happy.

"Bella?" Eric was desperate for my answer.

"What?"

"So do you? Want to go out?"

"With you?"

He nodded and licked his lips and not in that sexy way, more like a completely gross me out way.

"Eric, we're such good friends. I'd hate to screw it up by trying to make it more than that, you know?" My eyes drifted towards Tyler and Lauren, who were fighting about her flirting with Emmett. Please know, please know.

He looked rejected and disappointed but let me off the hook. "Totally. Friends with benefits is such a bad idea."

"Tooootally," I said exaggeratedly. The last thing I needed this school year was something to distract me from my ultimate goal of leaving. I loved Angela like a sister, but she was the only one I was going to let tie me to this place.

No distractions.

No additional ties.

No friends with benefits.

No conquering jocks who think they can predict the weather by feeling it.

Nope.

Not happening.

Who was I kidding? Edward Cullen was a my unexpected storm, blowing in and flipping everything upside down. Beautiful but completely unexpected and ready to change my life. I just didn't know it.

A/N: I don't own Twilight.

Big love to my beta and prereaders momof4luvntwisaga and, well, my mom. LOL.

New story. New Edward and Bella. Hope you all enjoy. I am looking forward to sharing this story with everyone. This is going to be fluffy fun for the most part.

For those of you who are interested, I will be talking about this story on my blog - www(dot)fridaysatnoonfanfic(dot)blogspot(dot)com

Love to my girls in Nothin' but Trouble on Facebook and to the pimpers on Twitter. Get ready for Trouble to get back to her Friday posts. Tuesday Teasers on the blog. Chapter 2 is coming tomorrow since this chapter has been out there for those of you who donated.