Chapter 1: Isabella

Isabella.

My name is Isabella Marie Swan. I allow people to call me Bella. However, the only person that actually does that is my best friend, Jacob Black. My mother, Renee, died right after giving birth to me, so my dad, Charlie, raised me by himself. He was a lawyer so he had lots of money, but he promised that he would never put money before me. When I was six years old, he met a traveling photographer named Esme. They fell in love and a year later, they got married. I don't want to sound mean, but the only good thing about Esme was her beauty. Otherwise, she was a very ugly person. Of course she wouldn't show it in front of my dad but I knew she was evil. I could tell right off the bat that she didn't like me. Along with Esme came her two daughters, Rosalie and Alice. Talk about like mother, like daughter! The only nice thing about them two were their looks. They weren't twins. In fact, they looked nothing alike. I've always thought that Rosalie and Alice had different fathers and that explained why they didn't share a single characteristic. But I would never ask Esme that because I knew that if I did, I was in for it. When I was nine, I went through the worst thing that could ever happen to me. My father died in a plane crash while traveling to Dallas for a big case. Yes, he was that good a lawyer that people all over the country asked for him to help them with their case. At that moment, I knew my life was over. The only family I had was Esme, Rose, and Alice for crying out loud! If they treated me badly when my father was alive, how would they possibly treat me now that he was dead?! Esme got everything my father had following his death. Everything from the house, to me, to, of course, his money. I later found out that the whole traveling photographer crap was just a set-up so my dad would fall in love with her, marry her, and eventually she would take all his money. So the fact that he died early into their marriage could not have made Esme happier. That gold-digging bitch. A few months later, a new family moved into town. They were named the Cullens. In it were Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his sons Emmett, Jasper, and Edward. Now Esme, being the slut that she is, hooked up with Carlisle within the first month of his arrival. As for his sons, we grew up with them. We went to the same junior high, graduated from there, and attended the same high school together. Or at least Rosalie, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, and Edward did. I wasn't really around them much since Esme always had me doing something so that I never got to spend time with them. Don't get me wrong, I did go to school and all that, but I never got to do anything fun during my high school life. And of course my "lovely" stepsisters, being who they were, never bothered to talk to their mom about me. I guess that I always had hope that they were different than Esme, but I had a feeling that Esme had trained them or something to make them hate me as much as she does. One day back in freshman year, Rosalie and Alice came in through the front door screaming about something that they seemed to be ecstatic about. I was on my knees scrubbing each separate tile in the front hall while the two girls stepped over me as if I was not there. "Mom! Mom!" They both yelled across the hall. Esme came out of her room demanding to know what was wrong. After years of professional eavesdropping, (otherwise I would never know what is going on in their lives) I had managed to hear that after weeks of hesitation, Emmett had asked Rosalie out and Jasper asked Alice out. At this point they were showing the class rings the boys had given them to their mother. No one seemed to notice that I had stopped working, or else I knew I was bound to get yelled at. After a few minutes of hearing the girls recap everything to their mother, I had had enough and got back to work. It wasn't that I was mad or anything, it's just that I felt disappointment, from the boys. I mean, they're pretty nice guys. They were kind, handsome, and funny. Not to mention it was always Jasper and Emmett that would stop by the house and ask me if I wanted to hang out with them. But it was Esme that would answer for me saying that I had too much work to do, or I'm too behind on my schoolwork. But the only reason I ever was was because of all the work Esme had me do. Rosalie and Alice are both straight A students. Or so they think. I know for a fact that Esme secretly fucks their male teachers when she thinks we're all asleep. Yeah that's right. Esme cheats on Carlisle. A lot. And the sad part is she doesn't even care. One night I saw her sneak in Rose's English teacher so they could "talk" about Rose's grades. As for the female teachers, well let's just say Esme loses money every time she comes back from a parent-teacher conference. I swear, sometimes I think that their teachers fail them on purpose. So, anyway, back to the boys. I was just disappointed that those smart boys had chosen, of all the girls in town, Rosalie and Alice to be with. I think they deserved so much better. But oh well. I was sure that a few days into the relationship Jasper and Emmett would see what a terrible mistake they made. But man, was I wrong.