The Beginning
BPOV

Where in the name of all that was holy was my fucking duffel bag?

I had to have been standing beside this fucking conveyer belt for over half an hour now, just watching it go around and around, with no sign yet of my luggage. I was beyond pissed by now, the fact that they had probably lost my bag was just another fucking cherry on the shit sundae that was this weekend. It had just been one fucking thing after another.

I was beyond late now for my original time of arrival appointment at Pencey Preparatory School. The gravelly voiced secretary on the other side of the line, a Mrs. Cope if my memory serves, would not be pleased. She had actually sounded pissed at me that my flight was delayed.

Yeah, like it was my fault.

The plane had actually been delayed due to bad weather in Forks. This was apparently something I had been promised to see more of. A lot more.

I already missed the dry heat of Phoenix.

Unfortunately, I had only found out about the delay after I had passed the security checkpoint at the airport, and therefore was unable to return to the outside world. This meant that I was stuck in the deserted gate for over four hours with only my iPod as entertainment.

Then, upon finally boarding the plane I was unlucky enough to be sat next to this fucking behemoth of a man, who had neglected to buy two seats to fit his mammoth ass into, which would clearly have been the fucking rational thing to do. Instead, he literally stuffed and squeezed himself until he was able to fit into the small space between the window and myself. I was actually afraid for my life; sure that he was going to burst through the dividing armrest and engulf me wholly in his fat, like the Blob.

Mercifully, that didn't happen, though lard-ass did decide to spill his orange juice on me halfway through the flight, rendering my blanket useless and me completely freezing in just a miniskirt for the rest of the flight. In addition, despite copious amounts of vigorous scrubbing in the aeroplane bathroom, I was unable to sanitise my legs entirely, and so still smelled faintly of oranges.

Just lovely.

Fucking Renee. If she had just been able to turn a blind eye for a little while longer. It wasn't long until I turned 18, graduated, and would be out of her hair for good. Usually, she was pretty good about ignoring my various escapades, only very occasionally giving me the 'I'm so disappointed in you' parental talk. But apparently, learning of your underage daughter's affair with her much older, married History teacher was just one thing too much for poor Renee.

Seemingly, the fact that her little bridge club had learned of the incident meant that she now had to do something about my 'irresponsible and roguish behaviour' to show them that she wasn't a terrible mother.

Utter. Bullshit.

This wasn't about her proving to the 'girls' that she was a capable mother (because God knows that she isn't), or trying to show that I was able to change, (because I wasn't going to), it was about Renee just getting rid of me entirely so that I couldn't possible sully her name anymore. And getting rid of me meant shipping me off to boarding school; and where better to reform your daughter than my placing her near her police chief of a father, Charlie?

Why it had to be boarding school in fucking Forks, I have no idea. Some kind of twisted joke that Renee was playing on me – sending me to the most insufferable corner of the USA. Cold, wet and completely dreary. When Renee had decided to leave, it was actually the only time that I have ever agreed with her, hating the summers I was forced to spend there visiting Charlie and Em.

Once I was old enough to make decisions for myself, I refused to return to Forks. Unfortunately, it was unavoidable now. Pencey Preparatory School, Forks, Washington. It may as well have been Hicksville, USA for all the fun that I was going to find there. There is absolutely nothing to do in Forks. The nearest 'hub' is Port Angeles, a town barely bigger than Forks itself. I would have to endure the 2 and a half hour drive to Seattle if I wanted to find anything worthy to do.

I would not be able to handle living in a small town. I was most definitely a big city kind of girl. At least I wouldn't have to endure living with Charlie, and was going to be boarding at the school. If I had to try and live in that tiny house, probably with an imposed curfew, I would not be able to handle it. I would most likely end up blowing my brains out after a day.

I certainly wouldn't be able to survive if I hadn't been able to bring my baby out. A Ducati Monster 696. Thank the Lord I had managed to arrange to get it shipped out with me. Without it I literally would have gone insane.

It wasn't as though Renee had given me much notice. On Saturday afternoon she had literally burst into my room, waking me and telling me that I was leaving. We got into a huge blowout; complete with yelling and name-calling, and even including Renee spilling half of her gin and no-tonic on me (did I mention that she was a raging alcoholic?), which ended in her basically telling me to get the hell out. This left me with barely enough time to pack up my shit before leaving. I scarcely got enough to fill one bag, before I was legging it. There was no way in hell that I was staying in that house for even one more night.

I fled to James, and he took me to our favourite bar where we got some drinks and we spent the night commiserating over my pending social demise after my imminent exile to a small town in the middle of nowhere. I was sure to perish there and never be heard from again.

I would have put up much more of a fuss with Renee, but during the big fight that morning, threats like 'military school' and more firm 'methods of correction' were thrown about. In comparison, Pencey was a pretty lenient option, and I was pretty sure I could avoid Charlie for the most part. So I took it.

However, the fact that I was going to go to go to the damn school didn't mean that I was going to enjoy it or even go nicely. I was pretty sure that I was going to be the most interesting news this small town had seen in a while, meaning that I was going to be intently focused on. This was completely fine by me. If I couldn't irritate Renee with my antics, perhaps Charlie would be easier to rile. I could certainly afford to get caught by the police a few times before Charlie blew a gasket.

I hope. Renee would probably not have informed Charlie about all of my supposed misdeeds, meaning that he maybe didn't know the extent of them. This bought me a few speeding tickets, maybe one or two drunken driving charges, definitely at least one drunk and disorderly charge.

I hoped I would find some people to do that with. I mean, in a town as small and restricted as Forks, there had to be some people who wanted to rebel. Either they were already doing it, or they needed an outlet to do that through. I could be that outlet. Hopefully I could open up some eyes.

Finally, finally, my duffel bag came into view. I grabbed it off of the carousel, swinging it over my shoulder and walking through to the arrivals area. It was about five now, and the light was beginning to dim outside. The airport was a pretty dingy place, a small airfield on the outskirts of Port Angeles. I still had to suffer through the hour long cab ride to the school.

I set down my bag for a moment, looking around for directions to a cab stand. I laughed bitterly at the poorly lit 'Welcome to Washington' that hung over the exit. Beyond it I could see it was rain was coming down in droves, which surely would make it easier to find a cab. Not.

Off to a great start then. Fucking rain. I actually didn't mind it so much when it was like this, it matched my mood. A pathetic fallacy of sorts. But if it was going to be like this for weeks and months on end, I was going to need a little pick me up. I rooted around in my messenger bag for my flask, locating it and taking a big swig.

Over the lip of my flask, I noticed a guy leaning against the wall, eyeing me curiously. He was pretty good looking, a shock of almost bronze hair, piercing green eyes and a perfectly angular face. I quirked my eyebrow at him, silently asking him why he was watching me. He shrugged slightly. He was cute though, so I picked up my bag and walked over to him, dropping it again at his feet. I raised the flask to him, not saying anything for the moment. I usually found that it was better for them to come to me.

He reached out a hand for the flask, also remaining silent. He took a swig, and I only detected a slight wince as he felt the burn of the whiskey. He coughed slightly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Classy.

I reached my hand out for the flask, but he didn't give it back, instead taking another swig. I noticed that the grimace was a lot less noticeable this time.

"Jack Daniels?" Ah, so he finally speaks.

I simply flashed a coy smile at him, grabbing back my flask from his raised hand and picking up my bag. I flashed a grin before winking at him and walking out the front door. I relished the feeling of the rain on my bare arms and legs before squinting through it to see if I could see a cab.

I saw one coming and raised an arm, hailing it. It stopped at the curb, the trunk popping open. I dumped my bag in, closed the trunk and hopped in the back. Once I was safely behind the visor of the closed window, I took one last look at the guy inside. I saw him watching me, or rather my cab, through the window.

I faced the front again as the bad started to pull away, smirking. So, he was more interested than he let on. This was good. Not ten minutes in the state of Washington and I had already intrigued someone. Not bad work really.

I didn't mind that I didn't have his number or even his name. I'd wager that in an area with a population as small as this one has, I would bump into the green-eyes boy sooner or later, which meant that I didn't necessarily need to know his name at this point. I would see him again. And I would fuck him. Guys weren't all that hard to figure out, as some girls made it seem. A few flirtatious hair flicks here, a few surreptitious hips movements and he would be mine. But for now, I had a new school to get to, a grouchy assistant to deal with, and a new roommate to meet.

I told the driver the school's address, getting out my iPod and turning on some tunes. I let my head fall back against the headrest, my eyes close and the music wash over me.

Here we go.