So totally new story! its really different to what i usually write - a bit more convoluted and with more intruige! I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: i do not own Twilight. If i did i wouldn't be working as a swimming teacher.

Chapter one: The Age Of The Understatement

I walked through the door and the first thing I noticed was the giant banner tapped across the living room door which was facing me. The words WELCOME HOME BELLA were emblazoned in bright neon letters on a white background. The sign took up nearly the whole door. I looked next to it and saw my two parents grinning at my shocked face.

"Hi baby!" my mother shouted as she ran across to me. She took my suitcase and grabbed hold of me, almost choking me.

"Hi mom!" I spluttered as I put my arms awkwardly around her. "Mom, I can't breathe!"

"Renee, give the girl some space," my dad joked as he gently pulled my mom off me. "You act like you haven't seen Bella in decades!"

"Well it has been a long time. I am so glad that you are finally home, baby girl. Do you like the banner?" she asked me enthusiastically as she wrapped one arm around me and pulled me into the living room. My mother was like that a lot. She was child like in many ways, with her insatiable enthusiasm and innocent curiosity. It surprised me, now that I was back home, how much I had really missed my mom. See, for the last two years I had been going to a private boarding school in Phoenix, Arizona, called East Grean Academy. I'd only been home to Forks for two weeks each summer and at Christmas, because of all of the extracurricular stuff I had to do to keep my place at the academy.

"Yeah mom, it's great. I'm so glad that I am home," I said as I looked at the living room. My mother had gone completely and utterly decoration crazy. The room was full of balloons, streamers and more banners, proclaiming the same sentiment as the one which had greeted me at the door. Wow, my parents really were happy to see me back home. "Wow, the decorations are amazing!"

"Thank you sweetie! Although I can't really claim all of the gratitude, because a girl who lives next door came over to help me. She is such a lovely girl, Alice Brandon. She will be coming over later," my mother babbled as she pulled me up the stairs to my bedroom. I had had most of my stuff shipped back home from the Academy, so I only had one small suitcase to bring with me.

I was shocked when mom opened my door and I was greeted by something so unfamiliar. Mom had got me a new bed, a double one which was in the middle of the room. There was a new bookcase, wardrobe and dresser, as well as a new desk which had a shiny new laptop.

"Mom, Dad, you really didn't have to get me a laptop!" I said with gratitude as I looked at the top of the beautiful machine. I walked over to it and slid my hand across the surface lightly. It reminded me of the laptop I had when I was at East Grean. I had had to give it back to the school when I left, putting all of my files on a portable hard drive.

"We wanted to sweetheart. We are just so happy that you decided to come back home!" Renee gushed enthusiastically. I smiled at her briefly, before looking around the room. The whole place was full of my boxes. My father must have realised what I was looking at, because he chuckled.

"We decided that we should leave you to unpack your boxes yourself," Charlie explained as he took hold of Renee's shoulders and steered her out of the room. They left me in my room by myself, to unpack and get used to being home again. My parents were so transparent sometimes. I sighed and knelt down beside one of my boxes. I opened it up and pulled out the picture which was on top. I immediately replaced it and shoved the whole box into the back of my closet. Then I opened another box, grateful to see that it was one of the boxes of many books I owned. Figuring that my books were as good a place to start as any in my endeavour to organise my room I emptied the box. I began to put the books on the shelves, in alphabetical order by author's surname. I had always been slightly OCD about where my books went, but I had become even more compulsive about it since I started East Grean.

Surrounded by my books I was happy. I must have spent a good few hours organising them, because when I was finished and looked at the clock I saw that it was five o'clock. I sighed and turned to my suitcase and other bags of clothes. I would need to unpack them next if I wanted to have something to wear the next day.

"Hi!" a bubbly and enthusiastic voice said from behind me. I turned and saw a short girl standing in my doorway. She had dark black spiky hair which stood out from her head and flawless pale skin. Her lips were glossy with red lip stick and her eyes were carefully circled with black eyeliner. The full effect was absolutely stunning. My mouth dropped open a little bit as I took her appearance in. She was a truly beautiful girl, who made me look positively drab. She danced into the room and sat down beside me. "I'm Alice Brandon – I live next door. Your mom said you were up here unpacking so I thought that maybe you'd like some help, because I am totally awesome at organising stuff, I mean I did all of the decorating in an hour and believe me that is no small task and so I thought that maybe I could help you with your clothes because I love clothes!" she said all of that in one breath, and there was immediately something about her which made me think that she could be a really good friend. And she lived next door, which meant there would always be someone near to talk to.

"Hi Alice," I said as I looked at her beaming face. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Bella."

"I know who you are silly," she giggled as she pulled me into a tight hug. "Your mom has been going on about it for weeks that you were coming back. I have a feeling we are going to be great friends, I already know so much about you!"

I felt a grim sense of foreboding at that sentence. What exactly had my mother told this girl? I smiled and shook my head slightly, to get rid of the paranoid thoughts. It wasn't as if my mom could have told her my innermost thoughts and emotions, and Alice seemed like she would be a good friend. I needed a good friend, because I hadn't really had a close female friend since my best friend Anna got killed in a car accident when I was fourteen. It was that which had convinced me to move to East Grean, to get over the ghosts from my past. Alice took hold of the nearest suitcase and unzipped it. When she opened it she gasped.

"Oh my god, your clothes are gorgeous!" she squealed as she pulled out a see through dress bag out. She unzipped it and pulled out the floor length strappy purple gown. It was a deep purple, with, thick shoulder straps, and beading underneath the bust. It fell to the floor in a waterfall of light silk. At the back the two shoulder straps crossed over, leaving a large amount of the back uncovered. "What did you get this for?"

"It was my prom dress last year," I said reluctantly. Was she going to ask me the story behind each dress?

"You got to go to prom as a sophomore?" she asked me as she slowly put the dress back into its bag and hung it up in the closet. She took a cursory glance at the box which had been shoved into the back corner, but did not say anything.

"I was invited by a Junior, so I could go to prom, and I had to get a dress." She nodded and we sat side by side and began sorting the clothes into piles of tops, trousers, knitwear, underwear and dresses.

"Was Prom good?" Alice asked after a few minutes of quiet sorting. "I mean my boyfriend was a junior, but I was ill when prom was on last year."

"I had a lot of fun, but the party afterwards was not all that it's cracked up to be. Lots of drunk guys trying to hook up with you, even if you have a date." I said dryly as I pulled a wrinkled dress out of the almost empty suitcase and tried to smooth it out. It refused to comply with my wishes, and i threw it onto the pile in disgust.

"How did you get all of these awesome clothes? Most of the people in Forks wouldn't be able to afford Christian Louboutin Zoupi heels," she said as she held up a pair of high heels which had been in the front of the case.

"My mom used to be a model when she was a teenager, and she did really well out of it. When she had me she stopped doing magazines and just did catalogue work for high end designers. She now does photography and a lot of designers send her free stuff. I'm the same size as her, so I get most of the stuff. Mom thinks that it's not appropriate for a woman who has a seventeen year old daughter to be falling about the place in skyscraper heels. And I worked a lot when I was away, teaching swimming, and eared money which I could spend on myself." That was the longest explanation I ever had given someone about the cost of my clothes. I normally didn't want to tell anyone because they would want handouts and free stuff. And telling a girl that your mom does photography for Versace and Prada makes them want to get real close to you. I didn't think that Alice was like that somehow, because she knew the clothes well enough to know that they were designer, which meant that she probably had some in her wardrobe. The small town of Forks had a very distinct economic divide. You were either rich, like my parents or you didn't earn that much at all. I had a feeling Alice was in the former group.

"Awesome – you and I should go shopping at some point. There are some really nice designer outlets in Portland, and Seattle is incredible for shopping." Alice said excitedly as she pushed the suitcase into the corner and pulled another box towards her.

"That sounds good Alice," I said as I looked at her. It seemed like we were already friends.

It took three hours and a lot of laughter to get all of my boxes unpacked. I was more than surprised when Alice pulled my sports bag out of a box, and declared that we had unpacked everything. Not only had we unpacked everything, but we had put it all away as well. I suspected that it was mainly because of Alice's mad organisational skills, because that pixie sure could arrange everything! We had talked about so much while we organised – I was surprised by how open I was with Alice because I was a naturally introverted person. She told me that she and her mother had moved to Forks a few weeks after I had left for school, and how she had got to know Renee because her mother was sick and Renee took food over when she found out. I learnt about Alice's boyfriend who was a senior, and who would 'absolutely love' me apparently. I was going to meet him the next day, along with Alice's best friend Rosalie and all of the people who would obviously have been drawn to Alice's sunny personality.

We walked downstairs together to see that a mass of people had congregated in the front room. I looked at Alice I shock for a moment before everyone turned around and looked at me on the bottom step.

"Welcome home Bella!" they all shouted in unison. I smiled at them all and stepped down in order to try and find my mother and find out what had happened. Before I could get to her my father caught hold of my arm and directed me towards a middle aged man in a wheelchair and a teenage boy who looked too much like him to not be his son. I smiled at the two of them unconvincingly, but I didn't think that anyone noticed that.

"Bella, you remember Billy Black and his son Jacob, right?" Charlie said as he put a hand on the arm of Billy's chair. Those names made me realise who they were. Dad's friend Billy who always went fishing with him, and Jacob the kid who was a year younger than me and who I was inevitably put with when Renee was on a job and Charlie wanted to go fishing. I bitterly remembered being woken up at five in the morning, told to get dressed and then being taken out to the lake where I would play with Jacob and his older sisters Rachel and Rebecca, where our fathers could see us while they were on the water.

"Yeah sure I do, its good to see you guys again," I said and then looked around for my mother.

"Bella, Renee is probably mingling, you won't be able to find her any time soon," Jacob laughed as he pulled me into a quick hug. I stiffened and he pulled away quickly as he realised how tense I was. He took a step away and I let out the breath I was unconsciously holding. I let out a tense little laugh and then tried to smile again.

"You know – you are probably right!" I said as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Alice smiling up at me. She wrapped an arm around my waist and joined the rest of the group. "Jacob, Billy, this is Alice Brandon. She lives next door."

Jacob stuck out his hand and shook Alice's. As he let go I saw a faint hint of pain on his face. I looked at Alice and saw that her smile had become even bigger. I put my arm around her shoulders, feeling the need for it to be doing something other than hanging limply by my side. I also felt the urge to do something which would assist me in holding Alice back.

"Oh, I know Jacob Black," Alice said in her melodious voice. "Last year at nationals you punched my boyfriend in the face." She said the whole sentence with a giant smile, like she had no care in the world. Only the tension in her shoulders betrayed the anger that she was feeling. I rubbed her shoulder soothingly and tried to warn her with my eyes not to start anything. She looked at me for a moment and nodded, and then returned to smiling disconcertingly at Jacob. He looked vaguely frightened.

"Hey Billy, have you seen the cake that Mrs Crowley made for the party?" Charlie said, desperately looking for a way out. Bless him; he didn't want to get involved in the argument. I would have tried to do the same, but I felt the moral obligation to Alice to stay, because she had helped me all afternoon.

"Uh, no Charlie I haven't. You should show it to me." Billy said almost desperately as Charlie took hold of the wheelchair. "It was nice to see you again Bella." With that the two men disappeared into the crowd. Wimps.

"Wait – you're dating Jasper Whitlock?" Jacob said incredulously. Alice raised one eyebrow and nodded.

"Yeah, I am."

"Ahh, shit. I didn't mean what I said, I was just pissed that his team beat us again." He said apologetically as he took one step back.

"So you didn't mean it when you said that I was a no good skanky ho, for dating him? Because you know, I was right there. And if Rosalie hadn't of held me back, you would have walked away with worse than a broken arm. You wouldn't have walked away at all." The menace in her voice made me believe her. At that moment there was nothing more scary in the world than this small woman snarling at him. And evidently he agreed with me because he lifted his hands up and made a motion for her to calm down.

"Whoh girl, calm down. He started it," Jacob muttered defensibly, as he took another step back and collided with the wall. A look of pure terror crossed his face before he composed himself. If it hadn't been so serious I would have laughed at the whole situation. Here was a six foot five giant muscular Native American guy cowering in fear of a petite four foot eleven girl.

"He made a throwaway comment that your swimming hadn't been so good. You said that his girlfriend hadn't been so good either. Then you made that comment and pissed the whole team off. I'm surprised they didn't all jump you after the meet was over. You got off easy," with that comment Alice twisted the two of us around and began walking away. Her grip on my waist was so strong that I had no choice but to walk with her. When we were what Alice judged as a sufficient distance away from him we stopped and Alice looked up at me in apology.

"Sorry about that. I just can't stand that guy," she giggled.

"I can see why you might have a few problems with him," I laughed as I thought about the whole silly situation.

"Well, look at it this way. You just survived your first Forks grudge match!"

"That happens often?" I asked incredulously. How many grudges could a small town like this hold?

"You'd be surprised. There are so many people who are forced in close contact with people they hate in a small place like this. It leads to some... interesting confrontations. Believe me that was nothing compared to some of the big things that have gone down. Now come on, let's find that cake your dad was talking about!" she said gleefully as she took my hand and pulled me along. I tried to shake off a feeling of unease at the statement. There was clearly more to the small town of Forks than I could ever imagine. Two years had changed a lot.

Alice and I meandered about the party, looking for my mom. I was really starting to think that she had been abducted by crazed fashion lovers, when I noticed her standing in the corner, talking to a beautiful woman who looked so much like Alice that I could only assume that she was her mother. I could feel Alice's reluctance to approach our mothers, and I wondered what kind of relationship she had to have with her mother to be able to feel that way. As we got closer I could hear her mother's raucous laugh at something Renee had said, and watched as she swayed on her feet. She was very obviously drunk.

As I realised this I saw the embarrassment bloom on Alice's face. She had seen it too. She plastered an unconvincing smile onto her face, but I could see through the facade. I didn't think anyone else could though.

"Hey, Alice, let's go get some drinks," I said quietly in her ear as I steered her towards the kitchen. She smiled up at me gratefully as we bypassed out mothers and walked into the empty kitchen. I grabbed two cups from one of the cabinets. "What do you want to drink?"

"Um," Alice said, biting her lip. Suddenly she seemed subdued. "Do you have coke?"

"Yeah, I think so." I said as I looked through the fridge and the cabinets. Darn. I stood up and managed to hit my head on one of the higher cabinet doors which I left open. My hands flew to my head. "Ah, crap!"

"What's wrong?" Alice asked as she came and stood beside me, pulling my hands from my head. "Well, it's not bleeding, I think you just bumped it. Did you find any coke?" her voice was full of hope.

"Unfortunately, no. Renee went through this no sugar kick a couple of months back, part of a fad diet. She got rid of all the Coke, and since Charlie doesn't drink it they never got anymore. Don't worry, we can go to the store. I need to get out of here." That was an understatement and a half. Already I had been exposed to life in Forks for maybe half hour, and I was running on overload. There were so many people, who knew everything about me. It made me nostalgic for Phoenix and East Grean. At least there unless you did something to make people notice you, then you were ignored.

"Okay, do you want to use my car?" she asked as she looped her arm around mine again.

"Yeah, that would be great. Just let me tell Charlie where we are going,"

Ten minutes later Alice and I were on the way to the nearest grocery store to my house. Charlie had accepted my excuses, with a knowledgeable look in his eye, and told me to be back before Renee noticed that I was gone. He said this way I wouldn't have to explain to her why I ditched her specially planned party for half hour. I could see Charlie's logic. He sure knew Renee.

Alice had been quiet ever since we left the kitchen and got into her yellow Porsche. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she suddenly spoke. She was still looking out of the front windshield, avoiding eye contact with me.

"I don't get why she does it," she said almost inaudibly as she drove. "She drinks so much that it's actually a normal state for her to be plastered. I know Forks is a screwed up place, but I don't understand." I could hear the pain in her voice and I desperately wanted to put my arms around her and give her a hug to make it better. Clearly her mom's alcoholism affected her, more than she wanted people to see, that much was clear from her fake smile from earlier. Alice pulled into the parking lot and viciously rubbed at her eyes to try and get rid of the half formed tears. I pulled her hands away from her face and wrapped my arms around her.

"It was alright until we moved to Forks. She only drank in the evenings. Now she fucking depends on the stuff, and doesn't go out without drinking. I swear, this place corrupts everything!" I rubbed her back and let her cry on my shirt. Clearly this was something she hadn't talked much about.

After a few minutes Alice stopped crying and pulled away from my embrace. She smiled meekly at me and opened the car door. I got out of the car and followed her into the store.

We were standing at the checkout, with a twelve pack of cans and two big bottles when I noticed a short girl with super curly hair walking purposefully towards us. Alice growled quietly, and I looked at her in askance, but she just shook her head and nodded towards the girl.

"Be careful Bella," Alice warned as the girl stopped in front of me. She stuck her hand out in front of her and I reluctantly shook it, raising my eyebrows. Clearly this girl expected me to know who she was.

"Hi Bella, I'm Jessica, I thought I'd introduce myself. Your mom and my mom are like BFF's and she has totally like told me so much about you!" she squealed in her high pitched voice. I winced slightly as I wondered how she could stand to listen to herself all the time. I swear if it were me I would have burst my ear drums to escape the sound. Although, her voice was so high pitched it would probably do the job for me if I had to spend extended periods of time with her.

"You know, I can totally show you around school tomorrow! You are going to love it, like Forks high is like totally full of hot guys! And I mean Hawt!" she giggled as I looked amazed at her. How was I meant to respond to that? "Do you have a ride tomorrow? Because I could totally give you one, if you want!"

"I'm already taking her. She lives next door to me," Alice said suddenly. I hadn't been aware of the arrangement but I silently thanked God for Alice. She had just saved me from hours of torture. If Jessica's voice hadn't been enough, her language set me on edge. Surely she could refrain from using the word like in every sentence.

"Well, isn't that so nice of you Alice Brandon!" the sarcasm and malice dripped off Jessica's tongue as she smiled at Alice patronisingly. There was clearly some bad blood there. "Well, Bella I will see you in school. Toodles!"

With that she walked away, almost tripping in the cheap ho stilts she was wearing. Seriously, who wore high heels to the grocery store? I looked at Alice and burst out laughing.

"Did she seriously just say toodles?" I asked her between gasps for air. She nodded, laughing herself. Then the smile fell from her face.

"Bella, you need to be careful who you hang out with in Forks. There are so many people who would eat you alive." The warning in her tone was evident. Clearly there was more to the small town of Forks than first met the eye.

So please read and review - tell me what you think!