Innocent Sins

Description: Bella was the pretty girl who was friends with everyone, until one event changed everything. She was walking home from school, when she was brutally raped, and later found out that she was pregnant. She withdrew from her friends and from life, but when time came to put the baby up for adoption, she just couldn't do it and found a new reason for living.

Edward was the strange withdrawn loner, who was hiding a dark violent secret. Years later, Edward and Bella meet again and start a guarded romance, but sins of his past threatens the solace they only found in each other. Can their love overcome the tragedy?

Not everything is as it seems, and even the guilty can be innocent.

*Edward's character is very loosely based on the true story/novel 'I Know My First Name is Steven'

~AH, AU, OOC, Canon parings. B/E~ BPOV & EPOV

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Warning: Rated M for dark and sometimes disturbing adult content such as sex, rape, drugs, abuse, strong language, and kidnapping.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. All settings and characters, etc. are the property of their respective owners. All subsequent chapters fall under the same disclaimer.

~Chapter 1 – Speechless~

BPOV

"Mom, it's Ok, I promise," I tried assuring her as she was about to head back to the airport.

"I just feel like an awful mother leaving you like this," Renee said.

"It's not like you're leaving me alone or with strangers, I'm with dad. Think of it like joint custody and right now it's just dad's turn with me."

She sighed, "Ok, but remember…."

"I know you love me," I said with a smile after cutting her off midsentence.

For as long as I could remember, my mother Renee and I had been on our own, just the two of us against the world. When we moved to Phoenix however, she met a man at the grocery store and fell head over heels, literally. He accidentally knocked her over with his cart, and they had been together ever since.

Renee and Phil had been married for a year, and as an aspiring baseball player, Phil finally got signed to a minor league team. But that meant that Phil would be traveling, and Renee would be forced to be separated from him in order for me to stay in school. I offered to travel with them and be home schooled, but of course that idea was quickly shot down.

So I decided to move to Forks and live with my dad for a while. I loved my dad, but I didn't really know him all that well. I used to spend every summer in Forks and hated every minute of it, but Renee deserved a little happiness, so I was willing to sacrifice mine. My parents were polar opposites; Renee was eccentric and zany who loved art and traveling, and Charlie was a small town guy who was happy being bored.

"Promise you'll call the minute you want to come home?"

"Yes mom, I'll call you if Forks is as bad as you always said it was," I joked.

"You think I'm kidding? Bella, there is absolutely nothing here to do, you'll see." Renee said.

"Yeah, yeah, just get going before you miss your flight." I hugged Renee one more time and watched her drive away. I was used to spending months at a time with Charlie, so I wasn't too concerned about being separated from Renee in the beginning, but I knew it was only a matter of time until I missed her like crazy.

"Well kiddo, can I help you get settled in your room?" Charlie asked me as I stared at the empty driveway where my mother's cab had been parked.

"No thanks, I can manage." Charlie had already brought up my suit case, so I decided to go to my room and unpack.

It was in the middle of the semester, so the following day I joined the other juniors and went to school. I was nervous about starting a new school, and I couldn't wait to just get it over with.

"Hi, you must be the new girl, Isabella right?" A strange looking boy with glasses asked.

"Bella," I corrected him.

"Bella?" He seemed confused.

"I prefer to be called Bella," I explained.

"Oh right, sorry. I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of Forks high. If you need anything at all, just let me know."

"Thanks," I said uncomfortably.

After my first few classes, I started to relax. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, and I actually could see myself making some great friendships. Jessica and Angela quickly took me under their wing, and in no time, we were gossiping about boys and having sleepovers. I had friends in Phoenix, but nothing as close to my relationship with Jess and Ange.

….

"Who's that?" I asked at lunch time as a strange guy I had never seen before entered the cafeteria. It had been a month since I started at the small school, so I thought I met practically everyone there.

"Oh, that's Edward Jameson; he's not new, but he's gone a lot."

"Really, why?" I asked as I watched the awkward lanky guy walk to the lunch line.

"Oh his dad is a deep sea fisherman, and sometimes they're gone for weeks at a time. His dad is pretty nice, but Edward is a freak," Jessica said in her usual stuck-up demeanor.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Well, just look at him. He hardly ever speaks and when he does open his mouth, he says the strangest off the wall shit."

I looked over at Edward, and tried to see past his long reddish hair, which fell over his face, and strange clothes that didn't seem to fit him properly. It was obvious that he didn't have any friends, and didn't have any desire to make any. He kept his head down, and seemed as though he was trying not to be noticed as he sat alone in the corner of the room. I actually felt really sorry for him.

"Hello ladies," Mike said as he came to sit with us. "Did you see that freak-boy has returned?"

"Oh, we saw him alright," Jessica said annoyed.

"You guys are so mean, why don't you just leave him alone," Angela said upset.

"Oh lighten up, it's not like we call him a freak to his face," Mike defended himself.

"So Bella, do you want to go see 'The Notebook' with me at the Dollar Saver in Port Angeles this weekend?" Angela asked.

"Why are they playing 'The Notebook'? That movie is really old," I asked.

"The Dollar Saver always plays older movies, that's why they're so cheap," Angela explained.

"And that's why no one else wants to go there, not to mention that they're on Broadway which is the rougher part of town," Jessica said snottily.

"Oh, it's not that bad," Mike interrupted. "I just have no desire to see that snooze-fest again."

"Oh please come with me Bella, I can't get anyone else to go and it's my favorite movie."

"Ok, I'll go. What time on Saturday?"

"Six."

The bell rang, marking the end of the lunch period, so we all headed to our classes. I rounded the corner by my biology class, and rammed right into the back of someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said as I realized that it was Edward.

"It's Ok," he mumbled quietly, and put his head down so I couldn't really see his face behind his hair.

"Um, do you have biology next?" I asked trying to get him to look at me.

"Ya," he said quickly, and then walked into the class; I followed him in, and took my normal seat.

Mr. Molina talked to Edward for a few minutes, and then pointed at my table. My normal partner Tyler was out with mono, so the seat next to mine was available for the time being, though I wondered what he was going to do when Tyler came back.

Edward sat next to me, and again, refused to look at me.

"I'm Bella, by the way," I told him as we all started our lab work.

Edward nodded, but didn't say anything else.

"You're Edward, right?" I asked slightly frustrated.

"Mm-huh," he mumbled again.

We got through the whole lab with the least amount of communication as possible. Whenever I asked him something, it was always a one word mumbled response, and Jessica was actually right, he was a very strange person. He would randomly start humming what sounded like the theme song to the soap opera 'General Hospital', but when he thought I was listening, he'd immediately stop and return to staring blankly at his paper. And he'd doodle all over the table and even on his chair, but the teacher didn't seem to notice, or care. On top of the humming and doodling, he was constantly fidgeting and even rocking in his chair anxiously, like he just couldn't sit still.

"Are you OK?" I asked him finally. His weird behavior was just becoming too much, and though I didn't want to be rude, I was really getting fed up.

"When is anyone ever really Ok?" he said unexpectedly, and then got up and walked out a minute before the bell rang. The teacher looked up at him as he left, but just sighed and shook his head; he must have been used to Edward's bizarre actions.

The rest of the week in biology, was pretty much the same. Edward would hum, doodle and fidget the whole period, but would hardly speak. And every day, he would get up and just leave the class at erratic times. I decided to try and ignore his peculiar manners, and just dismiss everything he did; there was absolutely no logic to him whatsoever.

"So, we're still on for tomorrow night, right?" Angela asked me as we walked to our cars Friday after school.

"Yep, can't wait," I told her. I wasn't a big fan of sappy romantic movies, but I always had a good time whenever I went out with Angela.

…..

Angela picked me up the next evening, and we drove to the theater. Jessica had said that it was in a rough part of town, and although she exaggerated a bit, it definitely wasn't the nicest theater. We bought stale popcorn and candy, and Angela cried through the whole thing. I never understood why people cried in movies, I suppose I was just never able to lose myself in a movie like most seemed to do. To me, it was hard to see the characters as anything other than actors doing their jobs.

"That was so sad. Don't you think?" Angela asked me as we walked to her car.

I shrugged, "I don't really think it was sad. I mean, wouldn't you want to die in the arms of the man you loved after living a full life?"

"I guess so, but I just always get chocked up when she couldn't remember him after they had been so in love for so long."

"So, her Alzheimer's would be less heartbreaking if she wasn't married?" I asked.

"Wow, cynic much?" she teased.

"No, I just don't get it. I mean she totally cheated on her fiancé, and neither of them really cared."

"Well, I guess when you're in love and it's meant to be, you overlook some of the lesser desired qualities of that person."

"You sound like you know?" I asked with a suggestive grin.

"No, but I would love to feel that kind of passion. They were madly in love for their whole lives, and never lost that spark."

"Ange, I don't mean to be a bitch, so don't take this personally but, it's just a movie. That kind of perfect love doesn't happen in life cause if it did, the world wouldn't suck as much as it does," I told her.

"Oh come on, their love wasn't perfect and in no way easy. Look at what they had to go through before they could be happy together. It's a tragedy really."

"I guess," I relented.

We got in the car and Angela turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened. So she tried again, but still nothing.

"Damn it!" Angela yelled.

"It sounds like the battery is dead," I told her. Since it was just Renee and me for so long, she always taught me to not rely on anyone else for stuff like fixing cars, so I knew the different sounds of problems that cars could make.

"Ugh! My parents are at a business dinner tonight, so I can't call them for help."

"I'd call my dad, but he's working," I said.

"What are we going to do?" She asked worriedly.

"Let's try calling one of our friends," I suggested.

"Oh, good idea," she said and started skimming through her contacts on her cell phone. She got a hold of Mike, and he was more than willing to come to our rescue.

"Mike is way too happy to meet us," Angela said suggestively.

"Good," I said ignoring what I knew she was implying.

"Oh, come on; you two have been flirting for a month now, when are you finally going to have a real date with him?"

"No we haven't, and he's not really my type anyway."

"Okay, what's your type then?"

"I don't know. I guess I really don't have much of a desire to date. I just want to focus on graduating next year, and then go to college to be a book editor."

"Sounds kind of lonely," Angela said cautiously, not wanting to offend me.

"Relationships will come eventually; I just don't want to search one out right now."

"Ok well, I'm thirsty. Let's go over to that bar over there and get a drink," she suggested.

"Um, my dad's a cop and we're both underage," I said prudishly.

"They do have soda there, I'm sure. Besides, it's the only place close by besides the theater, and we'd have to buy another ticket to go back in there."

"Ok," I said uncomfortably. We walked across the street to the bar, and noticed that it wasn't just a bar. They were having open mic night, and people could go up on the little makeshift stage, and sing, or even do poetry.

"Ooo, we should totally go up there and do a duet," Angela said excitedly.

"Uh, no thanks. The indie rock acoustic thing isn't really my style, and then there's the little problem of being tone deaf."

"Everyone is tone deaf in places like this."

And Angela was right, we sat there and listened to three performers, and all were horrible.

"We should just go wait in the car," I told her, not wanting to be subjected to anymore torture for my ears.

"No way, this is still better than the car, besides I already texted Ben and said we would be in here."

"Well, hopefully they'll be here soon."

"Oh, I just got a text, they'll be here in like five minutes."

"Thank god," I said relieved.

The guys came in a few minutes later, and they looked way to excited to be there.

"Well this place is a dive," Mike said as he looked around the bar.

"It's better than waiting in the rain," Angela told them.

"Hey, I'm going to get a coke for the trip home," Mike said.

When he got back, he smiled with a shocked expression at something behind me. I turned around and saw Edward sitting on the stage holding a guitar.

"Holy shit, this is too funny. Freak-boy is actually here to sing," Mike said while laughing to himself.

"Oh, let's go before he starts," Ben said quickly.

"No, I want to hear him," Angela said.

"Yeah, I do too. I've hardly ever heard the guy talk, so this should be interesting," Mike said while sitting at the table.

We all watched the squirmy reclusive guy, who none of us really knew, as he looked nervously at the small crowd in front of him. I thought he was going to back out for a moment, but then he started strumming the strings, and surprisingly, it actually sounded like he knew what he was doing.

And then he started singing….

I never heard anything like it before. He seemed to morph into a completely different person as he let go, and just felt the song wholeheartedly. There was so much emotional raw passion in his voice, that it was hard to not get lost in the lyrics. When he finished the song, there was nothing but pure shocked silence. No one clapped, and no one even moved.

"Uh, thanks," Edward mumbled into the microphone, then swiftly walked off the stage and out of the bar.

"What the fuck just happened?" Mike asked incredulously.

"Oh. My. God. He was absolutely amazing," Angela said.

"Well, you know what they say, most good singers are weird as hell," Ben said casually.

I, myself, was speechless.

*What do you think so far? It gets much darker as the story progresses, so I hope you stick with me and keep reading. If you've read any of my other stories, especially 'Moon Scars', then you know that I like to write a lot of twists but always end with a happily ever after, so please keep that in mind. I already have most of the story planned out, but always love everyone's ideas, so please don't hesitate to let me know what you're thinking. I already made a banner/collage for this story, but it covers the whole thing, not just this chapter, so check it out on my profile and you might get some clues as to where I'm going with this. *

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