AN

So, real life is a bitch and responsibility sucks. So between jobs and real life responsibilities, spare time hobbies takes a back seat. Also, in between my system's hard drive crashed and needed to be replaced. Still after a long time when going through my recovery data I found the draft of this story which I had seriously forgotten. After re-reading it again, I thought the since I am currently out of job due to Covid-19, I have spare time so I should re-post the chapters as it required a through edit.

So, I hope you all like the edited chapter and hope I can get through all the chapters and also post some new chapters before real life and responsibilities again interfere. Well, on with the story and off you go, also the usual disclaimer "_". Please fill in the blanks.

BPOV

My alarm blared at 6 in the morning and I opened my eyes to the bleary and damp weather of Forks, Washington where it rains almost 12 months a year and population about 3000 pe2ople.

Oh Hi! I am Bella Swan; age 20, staying with my dad Charlie Swan, my step mother Sue Swan, my step sister Leah age 15 and brother Seth age 10. I came to stay with Charlie when my mother Renee died of car crash; it was about 7 years back.

You see my mom and dad where divorced when I was about 5 years old. My dad is the Chief of Police in Forks and likes stability but my mom was a free spirit. Soon there were clashes between mom and dad and they turned to arguments and which led to divorce. My mom took me with her after the divorce got finalized.

My mother soon moved to the sunny place called Phoenix, Arizona and got a job at a kindergarten as a hobby teacher. It was a dream came true for her. She used to enjoy a lot given her free spirit. About me, I am lot like my father I like stability and my mom called me her middle-aged child. Because as mother was free spirited she changed from hobby to hobby, like changing of clothes sometimes cooking and sometimes decorating and me being the mature child used to take care of bills, groceries, cooking and household care. It is not to be said that my mother ignored me; every time a new hobby stuck her, I was the first person she told and took with her. So, I always picked something from each hobby she chose. Then when I am by myself, I always tried to hone on to those skills. So, you can say I am quite adept at cooking, decorating, sewing, etc.

But my favorite thing in the world would be reading and listening to music. I mostly prefer reading and listening to classics like reading Jane Austen, Emily Bronte and listening to classics like Debussy, Mozart. My favourite book; it is still a debate between Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights.

All that changed when I turned 13, that day my world changed. My mom went to shopping to purchase some new paints for her new hobby - painting. While returning from the market she got hit by a drunk driver and her car crashed and she died on impact.

Charlie came to Phoenix to take over the arrangements needed for Renee's funeral and take me along with him. He tried to tell me about my mom's death gently and a bit awkwardly because my relationship with Charlie was basically nonexistent. It only consisted of two weeks of summer vacations till the time I turned eight, after that I stopped visiting Charlie. So I knew that now my mother passed away, my guardianship has passed to Charlie and I had to go live with him.

So, after the funeral, I packed all my belongings and came to live with my dad in Forks, Washington. After moving to Forks I was quite pleased because I and Charlie are quite similar. We both like peace and quiet and also a good thing about Charlie, he does not hover.

He got me enrolled in school and changed his shift timings so that he could drop me off to school every day except weekends. He tried to change his shift to pick me up from school but it was not possible, but since the school was not too far from our house, I told Charlie that I would walk back from school to our house.

At first, Charlie was very reluctant to let his 13 almost 14 years old daughter to walk alone after school, but I assured him that this is Forks and the crime rate is too low for something to happen also who would dare to hurt the Police chief's daughter, also it would help me do the grocery and other shopping on my way back. After explaining my reasons, he agreed to try for a month but if any issues occur, he would try some other solutions.

So, I started my first day as a junior high school student in Folks high. At first it was very awkward being the only new student starting as all the students went to the same elementary together and now had started junior school together.

Everyone had their own group of friends so being a new girl, it was like providing a shiny new toy to the toddlers, everyone wanted to be the new girl's friends and wanted to include her in their group.

I had met a bubbly girl named Jessica Stanley, who was the sort of girl who knew everyone's business then a snooty girl named Lauren Mallory, who was the town mayor's daughter, who thinks that everyone is below her as her father's the mayor.

They both tried to include me in their group as I was the police chief's daughter and also introduced me to her friends which included few boys like Michael "Mike" Newton, Tyler Crowley and Erik Yorkey. The boys were okay but quite clingy and personal from the first meeting, which I do not prefer as I prefer to build the friendship or relationship over time based on trust over easy companionship.

I also met a shy girl named Angela Weber who was the daughter of the local pastor. She and I had been paired together for a class and started talking, and over time I found that we had many things in common as we were both shy and preferred books and music over the company of shallow people. She soon became my first best friend in Forks.

I also learned that she had twin brothers Issac and Joshua and she helped her mom take care of her brothers over going out with friends, since I was a single child, never having siblings of my own, I started helping Angela and her mother Susan and soon Isaac and Joshua became my kid brothers as well as Angela's.

Also, after learning my arrangement with Charlie, Susan decided that she would pick me and Angela from school and do the grocery shopping if me and Angela agreed to babysit Joshua and Isaac during the time Susan was shopping. I tried to insist that I was okay with the arrangement but since Charlie was uncomfortable with me walking alone agreed swiftly.

So as Charlie dropped me off to school, Susan picked me and Angela and then went for grocery shopping while me Angela are doing our homework or studying along with babysitting the twins, then I would return home, cook dinner, do some cleaning and laundry, have dinner with Charlie and go to sleep.

This was my routine on weekdays and on weekends he took me to reservation on La Push to his best friend's house, Billy Black where I met my other best friend, Jacob Black. Billy had three kids, Rebecca who recently married and was on her honeymoon in Miami, Rachel who was in college and Jacob who was still in school located in reservation.

Jacob was two years younger than me but since Billy was in a wheelchair since he met with an accident which claimed Jacob's mother life and Billy's legs, Jacob was the one who helped around the house since both his older sisters currently not in home.

I felt a kinship with Jacob as we both lost our mothers in a similar fashion and we soon became best friends. I know it is weird to have a younger and boy as a best friend but we just clicked. Jacob was a fun loving and easy-going person but had a maturity to him, due to losing his mother and being a caregiver to his father.

Jacob had one hobby or you can call it passion, which was cars and bikes. In this Jacob was a typical boy as anything and everything related to cars and bikes fascinated him especially the repairs. He was very interested in the mechanics of repairs and often babbled about latest engine oil, spare parts and what not, I was least interested in cars as to me cars were a way to move from place A to B. I had to remember the face Jacob made when I had mentioned such thing to him, it was like I kicked his puppy, face full of sorrow and aggravation.

So, I had a routine with both my best friends on week days, I spent majority of the in school with Angela and twins and on weekends, I spent time with my other best friend Jacob often cooking for everyone as I loved to cook, Jacob often helped me and learned some basic dishes so that he can cook on weekdays where I was not available, because we both did not want Billy cooking on a wheelchair.

Also, I came to know that there was another reason for Charlie visiting the reservation on every weekend, as after my mother left him, Charlie started dating a widow named Sue Clearwater from reservation. She was the widow of his friend Henry Clearwater, who was an old fishing buddy of his. Sue also had a daughter named Leah who was five.

Harry and Sue had Leah very late in their marriage, Harry was forty-three and Sue thirty-seven when they had Leah. After Leah turned two, Harry started having issues regarding his health and he died within a year leaving Sue and a four-year-old Leah.

Charlie being an old friend of Harry started helping both Sue and Leah as both Sue and Harry did not have any other relatives and Charlie had experience being a father so he was a great help to them, during this time both Charlie and Sue grew close to each other and started dating.

Sue and Henry both were Native Americans who were from La Push. Due to this both Sue and Leah had olive skin tones in contrast to our white skin tones. Sue had a light olive tone which gave the impression that she has a permanent tan, whereas Leah had a bit darker tone which gave her the impression of dark beauty. Sue was a nice woman so I never objected to their dating.

The routine continued till I was 16, then I got my driver's license and Charlie got me an old red Chevy, which used to belong to Billy and after his accident was out of use. Jacob used his mechanic skills to repair the truck so that it can be used and sell it for extra cash. You see Jacob was now getting serious about turning his passion into his career and started saving for future. I was very happy with this as I did not have to bear the embarrassment of riding behind police chief's cruiser.