Chapter 1: Welcome to Forks

Trees. So many trees. I spy with my little eye, something that is green. Yup, it's a tree. I should write a song about trees while I'm here. Or build a whole civilization up in the trees, like in that movie, what's it called again? My god this is boring. I still don't understand why we're moving. More trees. I don't want to leave Montreal. I have friends, I have a life, I have a future. And why are we moving to, of all places, Forks, Washington? Another tree. I don't see what this place has to offer that Montreal doesn't. Well… except trees.

"You know, I'm going to be the substitute teacher for French class," my mother calls from the front seat of our Subaru Forester. "I already speak French mom, why would I need to take a class?" I call back. Why would I take a class? I don't have the patience to deal with people's atrocious accents, or questions like 'Do we learn how to French kiss in this class?'. Ugh, people are such perverts. "Look Annie, I know this isn't what you wanted, but this could be a good thing. I get that this is very sudden, but this is important to me. Promise me you'll at least try to make it work?" No kidding it was sudden. We only found out about this job offer three weeks ago. Now look at us. Still, we might be here for a while, so I guess I'll have to get used to it. "Yeah, I'll give it a try." My mother smiles at me through the rear view mirror. At least somebody is happy.

Twenty minutes and 100,000 trees later, we finally get to our new house, which I'm seeing for the first time. It's a white house, two storeys, nothing special. At least it isn't pink. "Want to go look inside?" I nod my head, and my mother tosses me a set of keys. I walk up to the house, my new house, and climb the stairs. I unlock the door, open it, and step inside. Again, it's rather ordinary, except for one thing: there's no furniture. Walls with no pictures or paintings, empty rooms with nowhere to sit but the floor… It doesn't feel very homey, but I guess that can be fixed. I go back outside to the car, where my mother has started to take our bags out from the trunk. "Where's the moving van?" I plan on sleeping in my bed, not on the floor, so I'm hoping the van gets here before dark, although I probably won't be sleeping either way. I have trouble sleeping in a place I've never been before. Needless to say, I hate hotels. "It'll be here in about 20 minutes." Great, what am I supposed to do for 20 minutes? Well, I guess I could go explore—

"Hello there!" Huh? Oh, right, people. I turn around and come face to face with a family of four. Husband, wife, and two little girls, all blonde. "Uh, hi there… sorry, you guys caught me by surprise." The man and woman laugh, the little girls are hiding behind them, poking their heads out curiously. The man puts out his hand. "I'm Michael Rykes, and this is my wife Cindy, and our daughters Lucy and Lily." I shake his hand, which is nearly twice the size of mine. This guy is huge… I bet he used to play football. "Nice to meet you. I'm Annie Stone, and this is my mother Lisa," I point to my mother, who still hasn't noticed that we have company. Typical. I take a deep breath and, having regained my usual composure, proceed to shake Cindy's outstretched hand. I turn around to fetch my mother, only to find her walking towards the house, carrying two suitcases, still completely oblivious. "Hold up mom, we have company," I called. That caught my mother's attention, and she dropped the suitcases instantly, rushing over to introduce herself. "Well hello there! I'm so sorry, this whole moving business is driving me crazy. I'm Lisa Platwurst," she shakes Michael and Cindy's hands, a huge, awkward smile plastered to her face. Oh boy. "Hi Lisa, I'm Michael, and this is my wife Cindy and these are our daughters Lily and Lucy. We just wanted to introduce ourselves, and welcome you to Forks. It's not every day that someone moves here-" No kidding. "and we just wanted to make sure you were settled." Well, at least we have friendly neighbours, I guess…

The moving truck pulls into the driveway, and the moving guys climb out from the truck to get started. My mother rushes over, forgetting to say goodbye to our new neighbours. Makes for a great first impression. "Thank you Michael, Cindy. We really do appreciate it. And thank you too, girls," Lucy and Lily duck behind their parents again, but give me shy smiles, which I take as a compliment. At least somebody likes me. "Now for the fun part, moving furniture," I say, earning a chuckle from Cindy and a big, booming laugh from Michael. "It's great to meet you Annie, it really is. Would you like to come over for dinner this week? How about Wednesday?" Cindy asks, giving me a hopeful look. Man, she is good at guilt tripping people. "We would be delighted to, Cindy. Thank you so much." Cindy hops excitedly, clapping her hands like a cartoon character. "Great! Oh, here's our number, for future reference. See you Wednesday!" I wave goodbye to the Rykes family, waiting until they've skipped down the road. Wait, she didn't give me their address. Oh well, I'll just call them to ask for it later. Then I turn around to help bring everything into the house.

Two hours later, everything was set up, except for the piles of cardboard boxes of things like picture frames and mugs which we planned on opening only when absolutely necessary. We paid the movers, and they left, driving as fast as they could to get away from my psychotic mother, who had tortured them beyond sanity. Yeah, try living with her.

We sat at the dinner table and ate our frozen dinners, since we were both too lazy to cook. "Oh, Michael and Cindy have invited us to dinner on Wednesday, and I said we would go," I say, trying to start up a conversation. "Who?" my mother looks at me as if I just spoke to her in Russian. I roll my eyes, receiving a glare in response. "Cindy and Michael Rykes? The people we met this afternoon?" My mother continues to stare at me. "Whatever, you'll recognize them at dinner. Don't forget, okay?" She gives me a curt nod, focused on inhaling her fettuccini.

I go back to my plate, making a mental note to write a note for my mother to remind her about dinner. We go back to eating in silence for a few minutes. That's how it's always been, my mother never shuts up unless she's eating, which should prove to be awkward at dinner on Wednesday. My mother finishes up her meal, licks her plate (lovely, I know), and puts it in the sink.

"You excited for tomorrow?" Ah, school. Knew that would come up sometime. "Yeah, I guess." My mother rolls her eyes playfully, unimpressed with my answer. "Can you please take French? You know I'm going to be the substitute teacher for that class, and I just want to be able to keep an eye on you from time to time. Please?" My mother turns to face me and gives me her puppy dog look, wobbly lip and everything. I hate it when she does that. I hate that it always works even more. I sigh, "Okay," and go back to my meal. She smiles, pleased with her victory. "Don't be nervous, sweetie. I'm going to want to hear all about it tomorrow, okay?" I roll my eyes, picking up my plate and dumping my leftovers in the trash. All this talk about school has me losing my appetite. "Fine."

I feel something vibrate in the front pocket of my jeans. My phone. Wait, why is my phone on vibrate? Whatever. I pull out my phone. 3 missed phone calls, all from Maddie, my best friend. Maddie is in Montreal, and I'm not. Whoa, I forgot about that. My phone starts vibrating again. Incoming call from Maddie.

I walk out of the dining room and into the living room, then answer it. I nearly jumped when Maddie started screaming at me, "ANNIEEEE! Where have you been? I've called you like fifty times!" I roll my eyes and bring the phone closer to my ear. "Jesus Maddie, keep that up and I'll be deaf by twenty-five!" Then there's a long, uncomfortable silence. "I miss you," she says, almost in a whisper, and sniffles. "Aww come on Maddie, don't go soft on me now," I say, while fighting back a few tears of my own. Another long silence. "I'm sorry, it's just that neither of us is good at the whole long distance thing, and you're so far away, and soccer is starting up soon, so I'll be really busy, and—" "Whoa, slow down Maddie. I know, and I probably won't be around much either, since I've got some catching up to do around here, but we'll make it work, okay?" Another silence. "You know I can't hear you nodding, right?" Maddie scoffs. "Shut up."

I hear a loud bang come from the kitchen, followed by my mother shouting obscenities at inanimate objects. "Hey Maddie, I have to go now, okay?" I hear another sniffle, and then a sigh. "Okay. Talk to you soon, right?" I sigh. "Right. Goodnight." Then I hang up, put my phone in my pocket and go back to the kitchen.

My mother is picking up the pots and pans she dropped, a sheepish look on her face. I roll my eyes, and look at the clock. 11:50 p.m. Yikes. I guess I should at least try to get some sleep, to prepare myself for the very long day ahead. "Hey mom, I'm going to bed. Goodnight," I start walking to the stairs. "Goodnight, sweetie!" she calls.

I walk up the stairs and into my new room. Well, my sort of new room, since everything in it is from my room back in Montreal. I change into my pyjamas and climb into bed, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling. I feel nervous. I like people, I do, it's just that in a small town like Forks, word spreads fast. I can't afford to make a fool of myself tomorrow. What if people don't like me? Or what if I'm just too different, me being a city kid? 12:10. Still not tired, I get up to look outside my window, since I have nothing better to do. Trees. Did I really expect to find anything else?

Suddenly something between the trees shifts. I see something… an eye? Is that a person? The mysterious creature shifts again, then everything goes quiet. I open the window and poke my head out. "Hey! Who's there?" Silence. "Hello?" A squirrel jumps from a tree to the ground. Great, I've only been here a few hours and I'm already hallucinating. I go back to bed and stare at the ceiling a while longer. Eventually I feel fatigue wash over me, and I fall asleep.