Ch-5 : Meeting Charlie

I was immediately overwhelmed with the sheer size of it, as we entered Phoenix airport. At least half a dozen jumbo jets would be able to park on the inside, alone. Renée was leading the way, and not much later mine and Bella's luggage was safely boarded. All four of us walked through the halls, window shopping, as Phil suddenly received a phone call, immediately requiring him at the nearest baseball court. He said his goodbyes and then it was only Bella, Renée, and I left.

A lady announced that we could now board the plane to Seattle, and the three of us went to the gate in silence.

"Bella, you don't have to do this,"* Renée said as we stood there, and were about to walk into the gate. The sentence triggered something in me, and I suddenly got the feeling that I was intruding on a private moment. I walked a few steps ahead of them and looked out the wall made of glass, while I thought about what was yet to come.

I was truly at the beginning of "Twilight" now. Bella had been driven to the airport, she was telling her mom goodbye, and now she would go to Forks. Only one slight difference had thrown all of that out of its original balance. Me. I wasn't supposed to be here, I was changing it all just by standing next to Bella! What was I going to change by moving to Forks with her? Would she even fall in love with Edward, or would he never cast her a second glance? Would he flee and never come back?

He has to, I told myself. Her blood will appeal to him so much that he'll have to talk to her. I sighed. This was not going to be pleasant, I knew that. What about when Edward's going to read your mind? He's going to know everything, and then he'll most likely run away forever. He could never allow himself to hurt her. I sighed again.

I was going to ruin the story...

"Are you alright, Katherine?" Bella uncertainly asked from behind me, but I didn't turn around to face her. Instead, I stared at the different planes, cars driving around luggage, and people going on with their ordinary lives and jobs. I found myself envying them for being able to just go about their day so normally and undisturbed, but I knew it wasn't fair of me to think that. They had no idea what was happening right in front of their noses.

No one else but me had.

"No I'm not alright," I told Bella as I finally decided to turn around and face her. I forced myself to smile at her, just to show that it wasn't too bad. Then I turned to look at Renée.

"Have a great flight you two," Renée began. "And remember to tell Charlie I said hi."

"I will Mom," Bella said, while looking like she would rather escape this now than board the plane.

Renée then turned to face me. "Have a great time in Forks, Katherine," she said and then she did something that made me stiffen in surprise she hugged me. After the shock wore off I awkwardly hugged her back. I wasn't used to hugging strangers, or even just recent acquaintances. "Please take care of Bella," she whispered in my ear, making me even more confused about her current behavior. Then she let go of me again.

"Um, sure," I answered both her requests, before Bella and I finally boarded the plane.

As Bella had said in the book, the flight to Seattle took four hours, and the one to Port Angeles took one. We never really talked much on the plane, Bella having decided to read a book, while I had chosen to listen to my iPod. My hands were itching to sketch, but I had forgotten to pack my sketchbook and kit, so that was not an option. There were a couple of "Twilight" movie tracks playing once in a while, and I swore to hide my iPod along with my books, once I got to Forks. It was still beyond me why I had even brought them in the first place. If I was going to ruin everything anyway, then any character reading them could screw ten times more up than I had already done. I sighed at the thought. How had my life suddenly turned so complicated?

As we finally reached Port Angeles, it was raining. I was glad at the prospect of that, seeing some of the familiar weather I knew, and my mood improved just by watching the drops hit the ground. Bella however, looked resigned - like this was inevitable. I was going to have a talk about this with her later, and about what had happened in the car back in Phoenix.

After finally being able to get off the plane, I noticed a man in a police uniform as we made our way outside. I guessed this to be Charlie Swan, he definitely had the looks for it, having the same hair color as Bella and as we drew closer, the same eyes. He looked at least the same age as Renée, if not a little older. And I was proven right, when he caught Bella in an awkward one-armed hug, as she almost fell down the last step of the stairs.

"It's good to see you Bells," he said and then turned his head to me. "I'm guessing this is Katherine?"

"None other," I smiled and extended my hand for him to shake. He took it.

"I'm Charlie, Bella's father," he smiled too. "It's great to see Bella having a friend who would follow her to the other side of the world."

My mouth opened slightly in surprise. I hadn't expected him to already compliment me, but I was somehow feeling extremely honored by this. If Charlie already liked me, then I wouldn't have to try to make him trust me like Edward had to in "Eclipse". He already did. My smile widened.

"Friends should be there for each other," I told him while looking brightly in Bella's direction. Her eyebrows simply rose, at what I was saying I presumed. "No matter what comes between them."

"True," Charlie said, and we carried our bags to his police cruiser. Luckily all the bags fit in the trunk and part of the back seat, and so not soon after, we were all buckled up in the car. Bella was sitting in the front beside Charlie, while I had taken the right back seat. Then we were swiftly driving towards Forks.

"I found a good truck for you Bells, really cheap," Charlie said and I hid my smile behind my hand as I turned my head to look out the passenger window. I already knew Bella was going to love her new car.

"Oh," Bella said, sounding surprised. "Where did you find it?"

"From Billy Black down at La Push," Charlie answered. "You remember him, right?"

I smiled again behind my hand when I suddenly

remembered that I should probably ask about what La Push was.

"I don't think I remember him," she started. "But I think Katherine's probably wondering what we're talking about." I turned my head in their direction again.

"Right," Charlie said and looked at me through the rearview mirror. "La Push is a tiny Indian reservation just by the coast. Billy Black's a good friend of mine. I used to go fishing with him." I just nodded and tried to look like I was surprised by the fact.

"I always wanted to meet someone Native American," I blurted, simply because I had no idea what else to say. And it was true; I had always wanted to meet people from different cultures. Despite this, I still felt the blush of embarrassment on my cheeks. Why can't I just respond to things like a normal person? Perhaps I should just hide my face in my hands and hope the ground would swallow me up.

Charlie laughed, and I felt some of the tension in the air drift away. Then his mood changed and he became serious again. "He's in a wheelchair now though. That's why he sold me the truck."

I knew where this conversation was going now, so I tried to tune it out as we neared Forks with every mile Charlie drove. The landscape was really beautiful with all the green woods, grass, and moss. I found that I really liked Washington, as opposed to Bella who I knew found it too green. It looked almost... magical.

It wasn't long before we reached Forks and I finally could lay my eyes on the house I had been imagining myself in thousands of times, back when I hadn't known Bella would one day come to me through my closet. As I already knew, Bella's old, red Chevy truck was parked in front of the house. It looked rusty and like it could have survived at least a dozen car crashes, but I nevertheless liked it. Did Bella know how lucky she was even to get a car?

"Oh my God, Dad I love it! Thanks!" Bella exclaimed as we exited the cruiser, and I simply smiled at her words. There was no way I was ruining this moment for her.

"I'm glad you like it," Charlie said, clearly embarrassed.

"Just remember to drive both of you to school tomorrow, alright?" he then continued.

"What?!" My eyes widened and I immediately stiffened. This was not what I had been expecting to happen at all! Why would he have transferred me so quickly?

Charlie seemed even more embarrassed as he turned to look at me. "I took your papers to the school just after Bella called me," he said. "Principal Greene rushed your transfer, so you could both start at the same time."

I couldn't utter a word. Was this story seriously trying to get itself ruined?! Edward was going to read my mind and everything would just crumble from there! Ugh! If I'd had a week, I could have come up with something a solution! Edward could have met her already, without my thoughts there to ruin it!

In that moment I had the serious urge to hit something, or even break something however unfair that seemed.

"T-thanks," I forced myself to say, and I was glad there was no hint of my anger in my voice. Who knew what Charlie might have thought of me then?

"You're welcome," he said and helped us carry our things upstairs. My mood did not improve as we did so, but I tried to hide it as best as I could. I wouldn't want to seem offending or anything.

Bella's room was upstairs on the left side, and I already loved it just by seeing it. I recognized everything even though I had never laid eyes on it to this day: the window that faced out the front yard, the yellowed lace curtains that graced it, the light blue walls, and the wooden floor. I even noticed the desk and the bed that Charlie had added after Bella had grown older. And I absolutely loved the room. It was... friendly, and inviting - just waiting for someone to move in. It suddenly made me realize that I couldn't possibly be staying in the same room as Bella. If Edward was going to spend a lot of time in here in the future which I really hoped he would, if I could keep him from reading my mind - then me being in the same room wasn't going to be the best idea. Vampire or not, he would not want to be caught sneaking into Bella's room, watching her sleep.

Or maybe you should encourage him to not engage in

creepy, stalker-like behavior.

"Um, Katherine?" Charlie asked me as Bella started to unpack her bags, and I turned to face him.

"Yes?" I answered and noticed he was standing in the doorway now, as opposed to before when he had been standing inside the room.

"If you'd come with me I'll show you where you're sleeping." I let out a breath of relief. At least I wasn't going to screw that up after all. Even if I also wanted to prevent

the watching-while-sleeping from happening.

I followed Charlie out of the room and closed the door. He only let me to the room beside Bella's before he stopped and opened the door. "This used to be my room," he told me "but since you're a guest and I can't have you sleeping on the couch, I'm letting you use it."

I was in awe. Charlie Swan, Bella's father, was offering me his room. No way! "I can't take your room, Charlie," I said, though I was not sure how convincing I sounded. "I wouldn't mind taking the couch."

"It's alright, I don't mind," he reassured me. "I've been sleeping on that couch anyway for more times than I can count." I was surprised by that fact. Renée leaving must still haunt him a lot. The pictures of her and Bella in the living room proved that much.

Instead of trying to keep the conversation up, I simply nodded and Charlie went downstairs. As Bella had said in "Twilight", he didn't hover, and I appreciated him for that. I went into the room, and there wasn't really much to it, just as I had expected. There was a double bed to my left, a small desk to my right, and a window just beside the desk. I would be able to see anyone coming towards the house, be it with a car or on foot.

I noticed the walls in the room were also a light blue, and the lace curtains here were yellowed too. A sigh escaped my lips before I moved my bags towards the bed and put them on top of it. Afterward, I went to see if there was any space for me left in the closet a bit to the right of the bed and was slightly surprised to find it empty. Charlie must have cleaned out in here to make room for me. Where

had he put his clothes?

I merely brug

d not bothering to avamine the question

I merely shrugged, not bothering to examine the question further, and began to unpack everything I had brought with me. I knew Bella was going to be in the bathroom shortly, so instead of joining her there, unpacking my bathroom necessities, I stayed in Charlie's room now my room and for the first time in two days, I opened the book I had somehow entered, to see if anything had been altered.

My eyes were fixed on the words in it as I rapidly looked through its pages. Everything inside the book was still the same. Every word Bella actually should have said to Charlie was still written down, black on white. There was no mention of me. Did that mean that I wasn't necessarily screwing things up? Was I meant to change anything? Did I even have a purpose being here?

I started as there was a knock on the door, and quickly hid the book underneath the pillow. No one was to ever find that book.

Bella peaked her head through the door and her hair was wrapped inside a towel. "I just thought I'd tell you that the bathroom's free now," she told me while eying the small changes I had made to the room. "Thought you'd like to know."

I genuinely smiled at her. "Thanks," I told her before she closed the door and I decided to clean up myself. If I was going to school in the morning anyway, I needed to clear my thoughts in a hot shower.

My hands found the book under the pillow again, and I hid it in my underwear drawer, before taking my toiletries and heading towards the bathroom, wondering what the next day might bring.

NOTES: Katherine and Bella finally arrived in Forks on January 17th. Tomorrow they start school at Forks High School. What adventures await them?