So, every idea I've come up with has been a lot of the same stuff I've been writing...except this one. It's kind of a hokey idea, but I promise I won't let it get too caught up in its own kistchiness!
Premise: Imagine if Bella Swan was not just some girl from Phoenix who gets caught up with a family of vampires, but an extraordinary girl who had some amazing powers of her own. And she has a twin brother named Matt who shares her super-human status.
OK, so I was watching Hellboy when I thought about this, but I like the idea of Bella not being a damsel in distress. But, she'll still be sweet, little Bella. And the plot will follow a similar pattern as the original Twilight book, but with a twist.
By the way, I do not claim ownership to anything, just thought I'd throw that in there.
Washington D.C.: Home of Dr. Charles Wheeler and his two 17-year-old, adopted children, Bella and Matt
"Kids, pack your things, we're leaving," Charlie said, running into the house and up the stairs to his room.
Bella and Matt were on the couch watching TV, completely baffled.
"Dad?" Matt called, standing up. "What's up?"
Charlie appeared at the top of the stairs, "D.C. isn't safe for you kids anymore."
"But, I thought things were going OK at The Agency," Bella said, suddenly worried.
"Oh, they're going a little too well now," Charlie yelled from his room. "The bosses are no longer satisfied to just experiment with your powers, they want to start training you."
"For what?" Matt asked.
"You don't want to know," Charlie said quietly. "And I'm not about to let this happen, so we're leaving tonight. Now pack your things."
BPOVIt wasn't like I really had any friends in D.C., but I was still sad to leave my home.
You see, I've never been "normal." Oh, I'm a human, alright, but not any ordinary human; I was born with certain...abilities. My twin brother, Matt, has abilities too. And, because of those abilities, we were taken from our birth parents when we were two. A government faction, simply known as The Agency, took me and Matt and started testing our abilities; we've discovered that I am capable of telepathy, telekinesis and have increased strength and speed. Though, I'm nothing compared to my brother who can lift objects 500 times his weight and can reach speeds that rival military aviation equipment. Though, his psychical abilities leave something to be desired.
And, it was suggested that our powers could possibly increase and expand as we got older.
Dr. Charles Wheeler became our caretaker when we were four, and he has been our father figure ever since. He's helped us to lead more normal lives, even though we've never been to a regular school.
Now he's sitting next to me, waiting for our plane to leave for a place called Forks, Washington—on the other side of the country. I've never even been outside of D.C.
"Dad, why are we going to this place?" I asked.
"It's secluded and I know a doctor who works at a local hospital," he said. "I can get a job and we can blend in there."
"So, we'll have to go to a real high school then, right?" Matt asked, excitedly – he's always dreamed of being a normal kid at a normal school; I'm definitely more of a loner.
"Yes, I'm enrolling you at Forks High School," Charlie said. "I had to put in a favor with a friend at the CIA and got you kids some new identification: you are now Bella and Matt Swan, and you have social security numbers."
"Cool, I get a fake ID? That's some Jason Bourne shit, right there!" Matt watched a bit too much TV, if you ask me.
Charlie handed me my card: it was a Washington State driver's license that read: Isabella Marie Swan, born September 13, 1991; brown hair, brown eyes, 5'4" and 110 lbs. It was weird, I suddenly felt ordinary—for the first time in my life.
"You really think this is going to work?" I asked Charlie skeptically.
"At least until I can think of something better," he replied. "Have faith, Bells; I've never let you down before, have I?"
I shook my head and continued to stare at my new ID until our flight was called.
My first plane ride was interesting: it was a red-eye flight (I think that's what Charlie called it) so there weren't too many travelers on board. I was given a coke and a bag of mini pretzels, which I barely picked at; I'm not used to food from a bag or drinks from a can. Charlie was adamant that we eat mostly fresh, organic food at home.
Matt was acting like a four-year-old; he sat at the window, enthralled by the whole experience. "Look," he yelled a bit too loud; some of the other passengers shushed him. "Look at all the lights! That's so cool; I've never seen anything like that before."
Charlie was seated in between us; he leaned over to gaze out the window and looked at his watch. "That must be Denver; we're a little over half-way there now."
We landed at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport at around 5:30 a.m. and Charlie shook me awake. I couldn't remember when I fell asleep; it must have been when Matt was blathering on about how great life was going to be now that we were away from The Agency. I couldn't stop this gnawing feeling in my gut.
We stopped at a place called McDonald's on our way to Forks; Charlie threw two objects wrapped in paper on my lap that I assumed I was supposed to eat. Inside the paper was an oval shaped, brown thing that looked like it had been fried to within an inch of its existence. I threw Charlie a look.
"Just eat, Bells," he said. "I promise to get you better food when we get there."
I was so hungry, I ate these "hash brown" things rather quickly. They tasted like what I imagine cardboard would taste like if it were deep fried and covered in salt.
We got to Forks just before 10 a.m. and Charlie immediately took us to the local hospital where we met his friend, Dr. Dan Greenberg.
"Charlie, how are you?" Dr. Greenberg asked as he shook hands with Charlie.
"Fine, Dan; these are my children, Bella and Matt. Kids, this is Dr. Dan Greenberg."
"Hi," we said in unison, but with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"Well, I think you kids are going to like it here," Dr. Greenberg said. "It's a small community, but there is a very nice school with some great kids your age; I treat a lot of them here."
Dr. Greenberg handed a set of keys to Charlie, "Here are the keys to the house I found for you; I got you the address, right?"
"Yes, I have it. Thank you so much, Dan, you have no idea how much I owe you."
"My pleasure."
The house was small and cozy, not unlike our house in D.C., and I immediately went up to find my room. I was exhausted and found a room with a bed already in it; I wondered if Charlie had requested a place that was already furnished? I plopped down on the bed and started to rest my eyes; I woke up later that after noon to the sound of Matt jumping on my bed.
"Wake up! Wake up!" He cried as he jumped.
"Are you four?" I asked incredulously.
He stuck his tongue out at me and jumped off the bed, landing with perfect balance, like a cat; sometimes he makes me look like a total klutz.
"Charlie is going to order some pizza; you want mushroom and black olive, right?"
"Yes," I said warily; I thought Charlie said I was getting real food.
"Don't go back to sleep, or you won't sleep tonight," Matt scolded as he closed my door.
I stuck my tongue out at where he had previously been standing and rolled back over; I was exhausted.
First day of school
Charlie pretty much just threw us to the sharks.
I was hoping I would have a couple days to get acclimated to my new surroundings, but he insisted we start school right away so we didn't provoke suspicion.
"Now remember, no one knows that you two are special; not even Dr. Greenberg," Charlie reminded us for the umpteenth time. "So, keep a low profile; try to blend in with the other kids, OK?"
"OK," we said.
I looked at Matt as we sat in the back of the car, Are you ready for this, I asked telepathically.
Yup, he shot back; this is going to be great!
I was still unconvinced. We got to the school and there were throngs of kids walking about the campus; as we pulled up, they stared at us curiously.
Must be the new kids, most of them thought.
I closed my eyes in an attempt to shut out there inane inner thoughts. Matt had a huge grin on his face; he looked at me and thought, we're the new superstars, it seems. I groaned inwardly.
We went into the office to get our schedules for the day; I started out in English, Matt had History. We said goodbye silently and made our way to our classes.
In English, I met a girl named Jessica who attempted to give me the "low down" on the school. Who to hang out with and what teachers were particularly harsh; I tried hard to ignore her inner comments, which were usually more venomous than the words coming out of her mouth—she was actually a little two-faced; I wonder what her classmates would think if they knew.
She was in my Spanish class next and continued to harangue me with her chatter; she asked once where I was from and when I answered, it seemed to be enough for her. God forbid I bother her with my story.
Matt and I met back up for lunch and I was disappointed in the choices in front of me: more tasteless, processed crap.
"Um, can I just get a salad or something?"
"Sorry, it's cheeseburgers with shoestring fries today," the lunch lady said.
"But, I'm a vegetarian," I said. "Don't you have anything else?"
The lady threw a large, soft pretzel on my tray. "You want cheese with that?"
"No thank you," I said quietly, walking away.
We paid for our food and found a small, secluded table all to ourselves in the corner of the cafeteria. We ate in silence, until I heard the inner comments being directed towards us; they weren't very friendly.
Stuck up!
Too good for the rest of us, huh?
Just like the Cullens, can't mingle with the common people.
That last comment stopped me; who are the Cullens? I looked up at Matt, have you heard of the Cullens?
Heard the name; I guess they're pretty new here, too.
And we're being compared to them, I thought.
Yeah, I've been hearing that.
Remember what Charlie said, we have to blend in!
I don't like these people.
You were the one who was all gung-ho about coming here! So deal with it! We should sit at one of the other tables; one that has other kids at it.
Fine! Which one?
I recognized Jessica sitting with what I assumed were her unfortunate friends.
There.
We got our trays and walked over.
"Hi Jessica." She looked up at me.
"Oh, hi, Bella right?"
"Yeah, can me and my brother sit here?"
All the girls looked up at Matt and beamed; I have to admit, if he weren't my brother I'd think he was cute. He looks like that one actor...what's his name?...Ben Affleck or something.
"Sure," Jessica said.
We sat and tried to look comfortable sitting with these people. It's hard to be around people when you can read their minds, and they don't have a clue you're doing it; you feel guilty in a way.
I decided to distract myself by engaging in conversation.
"So, what's fun to do in Forks?" I said, trying to sound like an average teenager.
"Not much," Jessica said as all the Forks kids laughed. "We usually get out of town on the weekends."
"Where do you go?" Matt asked.
Jessica looked at him with starry eyes, "Ummm, anywhere, really. Port Angeles, Olympia, sometimes even Seattle."
"So, where are you two from again?" This girl's name was Lauren, and she didn't seem to like me at all.
"D.C.," Matt answered.
"Wow," she said, though she didn't really sound impressed. "So, this must seem like such a little town to you two."
"It's nice," I said. "It's kind of cool to be away from the bigger cities, it's quiet; and it's beautiful."
Lauren rolled her eyes and thought, whatever, so fake!
I wanted to respond but Matt caught me, blend in, remember?
"So, have you guys lived here all your lives?" I asked.
"Most of us," Jessica said. "Except the Cullens, they moved here two years ago."
"Who are they?" Matt asked.
Jessica pointed to a table where sat five of the best looking people I had ever seen in my life. Three boys, two girls; and all looked like they belonged in a fashion magazine.
"They're all related?" Matt asked.
"No adopted," Jessica said. "Well, at least the Cullens are; that's Alice, the short girl, Emmett, the huge one and Edward, the one with the freaky, bronze hair."
The gorgeous one, she said inwardly.
In fact, every girl at this table seemed to swoon at the mention of Edward Cullen's name; and I could see why: bronze hair, golden eyes, perfect skin, and this incredible jaw line. He was perfect.
I was interrupted when Jessica's venomous thoughts kicked back in: look at her stare at him, like she actually has a shot! I'm starting to like this girl less and less.
"The other two are Jasper and Rosalie Hale, and they are related," she continued. "They were adopted by Mrs. Cullen; they're here niece and nephew, I think."
"So, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen don't have kids of their own?" Matt asked.
"No, just adopted," Jessica said.
Matt and I thought the exact same thing at the exact same time, good! People like us!
Well, sort of, Matt laughed inwardly.
I looked up to see Edward Cullen staring at me with strange intensity. I tried to decipher what he was thinking, but came up short. I tried harder, but could only hear the hundred or so voices around me—nothing from the Cullen table.
Can you hear anything from the Cullens? I asked Matt.
He sat rigid for a moment, concentrating. No, that's weird.
Maybe there are just too many voices in here, it is crowded.
Maybe.
I'll try walking by their table.
Way to be inconspicuous.
I ignored him and stood up; there was a trash can near their table, so I decided to take this disgusting stuff they called food and drop it in. As I approached their table, I slowed down and tilted my head slightly in their direction—still nothing. So weird.
I dumped the food and walked back to Matt.
Nope, nothing.
That Edward guy was staring at you the whole time.
I started to blush, really?
He smirked and finished the last of his burger.
How can you eat that?
Tastes good, actually. Not like that veggie crap you eat.
I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue and grabbed my bag. It was time for my science class. That was such a generic term: science class; was it a physics class? Or Chemistry? Or just all around science? It sounded odd to me.
I entered the room and handed the piece of paper in my grasp to the teacher, Mr. Banner. He handed me a book and told me to sit in the only open chair: next to Edward Cullen. I tried to keep my excitement at bay—maybe I'll be able to hear what he thinks of me, and why he was staring. But, what if I don't want to know? What if he was staring because he thought I was weird or ugly or something? I took my seat next to him and turned slowly.
"Hi, I'm Bella Swan," I stuck out my hand for him to shake and finally met his eyes; he looked like he wanted to choke the life out of me.
I drew my hand back and glared back at him; what was wrong with this guy?
My attention was finally called to the front of the room as the teacher started to speak. The class was going over molecular theory; they haven't learned this yet? I opened the book to read what the teacher was going over, and it was all written like it was designed for children. Are these students really this far behind?
I suddenly felt eyes burning holes in the side of my face; Edward Cullen was giving me a murderous glare again. I tossed my hair over my left shoulder and tried to ignore him—he went completely rigid when I did this. Did my hair smell or something? I sniffed it: strawberries, the scent of my shampoo. Does he not like strawberries? Maybe he's allergic or something?
I continued to ponder why Edward Cullen was being so weird when the bell rang and he launched himself out the door with amazing speed; like he couldn't wait to get away from me. I sat staring, but my gaze to the door was broken by a tall, blond boy standing next to me.
"Hi, I'm Mike," he said.
Wow, she's even cuter up close, he thought.
I tried not to blush at his inner thoughts as I stood up, "I'm Bella."
"I know, everybody knows who you are by now," he said.
"Really?" I said warily.
"Yeah; so, can I walk you to your next class?"
"Umm, OK; I have gym."
"Me too; wow, cool coincidence, huh?"
"Yeah, cool..."
As we walked to the gymnasium, he chattered on about himself: Mike Newton, junior at Forks (as if I didn't know that already), His parents own a sporting goods store where he works and he likes to go camping...a lot.
"So, you're from D.C., right?"
"Yeah." Word gets around fast here.
"What's that like?"
"Not much different from here, I guess; just bigger."
"And probably with more sunlight, right?"
"A bit."
I stood at the door to the girl's locker room and stared.
"You going in?" Mike asked.
"I guess," I said; I honestly didn't know what I was supposed to do.
I entered the room to find the other girls standing around in various stages of undress, it made me a little uncomfortable. A lady came up to me, "Are you Isabella Swan?"
"Yeah, but people call me Bella," that sounded so ordinary.
"OK Bella; well I'm Ms. Kiel, and I have these for you," she handed me some clothing—a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. "You don't have to wear these today since it's your first day; but you'll be expected to dress out tomorrow. And you'll need to have proper footwear, as well."
I looked down to my feet, I was wearing boots; I assumed this was not what she meant when she said proper footwear. I sat at one end of the gym and watched students play badminton. Mike Newton was particularly good, and I could tell he was one of the more popular boys at the school; everyone seemed to know and like him.
Matt was waiting for me outside of the gym after school: dad called me; he wants us to head over to the hospital.
Why?
Said he wanted us to meet some of his colleagues.
OK.We walked down to the hospital, it was only two miles away, and asked for Charlie at the front desk.
"Dr. Swan?" The nurse asked into the phone. "You're Children are here."
She told us to go back to his office down the hall, we followed the path and found Charlie in a small room with Dr. Greenberg and a very young, very handsome blond doctor.
"Kids, come in!" He said happily. "You remember Dr. Greenberg?"
We said hi, and he nodded back.
"And this is Dr. Carlisle Cullen," he said, motioning to the blond doctor. "His children go to Forks, too."
Edward's adoptive father; wow, how is this man old enough to be a doctor or able to adopt kids? He looks about 25!
"Hello," he said in a smooth, British accent. "How was your first day of school?"
"Fine," we both said.
"Did you meet any of the Cullen kids," Charlie asked. "There are...what, Carlisle...four or five of them there."
"Five," Dr. Cullen said.
"Ummm, yeah," I said as Matt gave me a quick glance as if I had been withholding information. "Edward's in my science class."
"I hope he was nice," Dr. Cullen said.
Ha, I thought to myself, "Umm, yeah; just a little quiet, though."
"Yes, Edward's always been quiet."
Really, I thought, has he always been psychotic as well?
Matt choked back a laugh, masking it as a cough; I smirked at him, I'll tell you later, I promise.
Charlie looked at us suspiciously, he knew we were communicating.
"So, I'll be done here in a few kids," Charlie began. "Do you two want to wait in the lobby for a bit?"
"Sure," we said.
"Nice to meet you," I said to Dr. Cullen.
"Yeah," Matt agreed.
We sat in the lobby and Matt immediately inundated me with questions.
So, what did Edward Cullen do to make you think he's a psycho?
He kept glaring at me for no reason. And not like he was in the lunchroom; it was a death glare, like I had done something to offend him.
Well, maybe you did; these small town people are weird, maybe you accidentally insulted him or something.
No, I just sat next to him in science, that was it; and he's already decided to hate me.
Oh come on! People don't hate Bella! You're too cute, and nice and perfect!"
Well, Edward Cullen doesn't seem to think so.
As I thought this, Edward walked through the hospital lobby and noticed me and Matt sitting there. He gave me the same glare as before and ran towards the hallway we had just come back from.
See? He hates me!
Later that night, we sat around the dinner table with Charlie.
"OK, so what did you both really think of public school?" Charlie asked over his food.
Matt and I exchanged wearied glances briefly, but Charlie caught them. "That good, huh?"
Matt nodded for me to go first, "Well, the students are all kind of weird, the curriculum seems like it was designed for imbeciles and..." I trailed off.
"I had a good day, more or less," Matt grinned. "These Forks girls seem to like me; and I kicked some pretty impressive butt in gym class. Well, except with that Emmett Cullen! Damn, that kid is huge!"
"They made you participate in P.E.?" I asked. "They didn't make me."
"Pshhh," he responded—he's really getting into this regular teenager thing. "Like I was going to sit out when I could waste all of those wusses!"
I rolled my eyes and chomped on a carrot.
"So, what about Edward Cullen?" Charlie asked me. "Something tells me you didn't tell Carlisle the truth about how you felt about him."
I gulped some water down quickly, and then slowly looked up at Charlie, "He just acted weird is all; he glared at me like he hated me."
"What do you mean? Did you say something to him?"
"Just 'hi, I'm Bella,'" I said.
"So clearly, that's enough to make an enemy for life around here," Matt said.
"Now, you two, it was probably just a misunderstanding," Charlie said. "You'll see; tomorrow at school, I'll bet Edward will be a lot different."
Charlie was almost right; that is, if he meant "different" as in "not there."
Edward didn't show up the next day, or the day after; actually, he was gone for the rest of the week. But I was sort of relieved; I didn't need to sit and wonder if this weird boy was going to suddenly decide to act on his blind hatred for me and attack.
Not that I feared for my life, but we're trying to keep a low profile here; if Edward Cullen were suddenly flying through the air because I just happened to mentally throw him against a wall, people will talk.
Though, people talk around here, anyway. They can't seem to help themselves.
I found out that Jessica, the two-face, has a big crush on Mike, the blond guy, and I am somehow stuck in the middle. Why did I have to be so appealing to the guy Jessica likes? There are over 100 other girls here, I'm not particularly special; at least, not as far as any of these kids know. Jessica was hiding her resentment well, on the outside. Internally, however, she cursed me whenever I was within a 10 foot radius of her. I was starting to get irritated.
Don't let her get to you, Matt consoled me, she's jealous.
She shouldn't be, I don't like Mike; not like that, anyway.
Why not? He seems nice...or are you thinking about certain boys who give you evil looks?
Shut up!
Hey, it's not my fault I can read your thoughts...and your dreams.
You've been eavesdropping on my dreams? I thought we agreed we wouldn't do that to each other.
I had to know, you're acting all weird since he hasn't been at school.
I don't like him either; why would I like someone who hates me?
Because you secretly thinks he doesn't; that he's just intrigued by you.
Whatever.
Spoken like a true, teenage girl.
I huffed away angrily; we were sitting in the cafeteria and I stomped off to the science lab early.
So, I think that's a good jumping off point. What do you all think?
I know some parts are far fetched, but this IS a fantasy, after all…