Chapter Text
Crickets trill their morning song. It dances through the damp forest floor. Heavenly, it sounds only to them, but it slices through the heavy air and hums in the ears of a foraging creature.
A maturing fawn wanders through the forest. Hooves crunching loudly as he searches for his mother. His head swivels in search, but stops when he comes upon a young tree. It’s leaves bright green and deliciously alluring to the hungry fawn. He eats carefully. Knowing fully that he is prey. Knowing truly that there is a predator nearby.
The predator sits painfully– silent two trees behind the fawn. Charcoal dusts her head. Masking her scent. It doesn’t hide her completely from the fawn. She knows that the foiled breakfast taco hidden in her oversized orange jacket reveals her location.
Despite her idiotic mistake, she stays. Knees locked against her aching lungs. She takes quick second breaths to ease the burning in her chest. A heavy shotgun presses tightly against her shoulder. She blinks hard as sweat trails towards her eyes. Blinking away the charcoal doesn't ease its burn.
She considers the fawn with desperation. The sun tries its best to peak through ancient forest dense trees unsuccessfully. Only the strongest of rays shine through. It notifies her how long she has waited.
She watches as the fawn flinches backwards from the tree. A shuffle and jump reveals a spotted white rabbit; berries staining its pink nose. The predator considers the rabbit for a moment. It's older than the fawn. But the spots on its fur are less than desirable.
A loud huff interrupts her thoughts. From the brush, a tall, prideful Buck stomps toward the young tree. His antlers lay crooked on his head. One clearly haven been shot off as it stood mid-sized next to its counterpart.
Finally, she thinks. The predator blinks a few more times, hoping that her vision would clear up for the shot. The fawn backs away, head down as the Buck huffs louder.
Tensing her back, her finger gently presses the trigger. The shot rings loud in her ears, pushing her weight backwards. Her legs tingle with a numbing sensation, but she is able to stand up.
She drops the gun and surges forward to get her prey. Smile wide, body aching with raging burns; she rushes past the trees to her prey. The spotted rabbit lays twitching on the ground, mocking her as it takes its last breath. "Fuck this".
☆☆☆
Bee sat on the back porch steps, chewing on an unlit cigarette. The rabbit hide hung stretched and thoroughly salted a few feet from her. The chirp of a police siren is heard from the front of the home. She sighs.
A tall, ghastly pale, man calls her name. Bee grunts loudly and notifies him of her location through clenched teeth. She swirls the cigarette as heavy boots stop behind her.
She leans her head back; squinting at the disappointed look on the officer's face.
Charlie Swan, chief of police, and father to his bastard daughter that was Beatrice Swan.
"Bee, did you get any work done?", he asks while leaning down to pluck the chewed cigarette from her teeth.
Loose tabaco sticks to her tongue, and she sticks it out to spit the remnants.
She grins at the Chief– teeth stained with charcoal. "Sure did Pops", she says with a twang.
She points to the Rabbit pellet. "I had an up-close and personal review on biology".
Charlie scoffs. He nudges her thigh. Bee moves to the corner of the steps. Charlie stands on the opposite end.
He pulls out a new cigarette and lights it. "It took you 3 hours of "biology" to bring home a rabbit", he teases.
Bee pouts and covers her quickly reddening ears.
"I swear dad I had a large Buck pinned under my gun… but my legs had fallen asleep by then… and yeah". Bee twirls her hair, looking embarrassed.
Charlie chuckles and pats her head. He grimaces as charcoal coats his hand.
"It's a pretty looking pellet. I'll give you that. What are you going to make out of it.?"
"I was thinking of a mini caplet".
Charlie hums as Bee stands up. "I left its meat inside for you to cook".
She holds out two fingers towards Charlie's dying bud. He raises his brows and takes out the cigarette only to extinguish it on the rail.
"Did you clean it properly?"
Bee blinks dumbly and shakes her head. "I would've but you're just so much better at it than I am".
"A hunter should know how to clean their own meat", Charlie comments. Bee groans. Exasperated with knowing that this will lead to his respect nature or it'll disrespect you speech.
"Yeah but I know that you'll take a long lunch today to clean it for me, because you … love me". Bee turns away. Smile twitching as she walks towards the door.
Charlie nods behind her before scoffing at her retreating. "You sure you didn't study the act of manipulation today?"
She giggles behind the screen door. "Big word for the Chief", she says.
Charlie yelps at her. "Go shower that gunk off you! You stink!"
Bee booms with laughter as she races up the stairs.
☆☆☆
Bee sits with her legs tucked underneath her on the living room couch. A textbook on Early American History lays comfortably on her lap. She toys with the pages.
Charlie cooks silently in the next room. Oil pops from the pan. It drops small stings of grease on his weathered hands.
"Tomorrow is Thursday", he yells.
Bee skims the page and turns to the next. "I know".
Charlie flips the rabbit meat; oil screeching in response. "It's the end of the month", he continues. "You have your big test tomorrow".
Bee hums in agreement. "I'll pass Padre", she says with an overly American accent. "I won't give up the freedom homeschooling offers me just yet".
Charlie shrugs despite Bee being unable to see him. He turns off the heat, and pats dry the meat. He plates them both a steak with a side of Ready to Boil white rice.
Settling down on the recliner, he take a bite before speaking again.
"Maybe you should reconsider rejoining… society", he grimaces as he says the words. Glancing at Bee, she avoids looking at him.
She places her warm plate over her textbook; grease leaving splotches over the white pages.
"No thanks", she says before biting into her steak. "People in this town are terrible gossips, and their children only mimic their parents words back to me".
She takes a deep breath. Finally looking at Charlie, she continues. "I don't deserve being made feel like the bad guy for existing". Charlie wilts at her words.
"Is there a double meaning to that?", Charlie questions. His tone shifts. As if replaying a forgotten, no a buried memory, he looks at her in an indescribable manner. Bee hesitates, eyes blank, "I don't know what you are talking about". Charlie buries himself into the couch. "Yeah I don't either".
"You aren't the bad guy for choosing yourself in a loveless marriage", she continues.
Charlie shakes his head. Guilt weighs him down despite her reassurance. "With Bella here, I think things will be different".
As if summoning the teen, Bella Swan emerges through the front door. Hair growing with the humidity, her translucent skin only highlights her cocoa brown hair. She would be an image of beautiful death if not for her bunny-like eyes. Bella considers the two for a moment before closing the door.
"You're home early. Is everything okay?" Charlie asks.
As if she remembered to be ill, Bella grips her stomach. "Stomach issues", she replies.
Tension flows through the air awkwardly. Bee and Charlie know she is lying.
"Would you like an early dinner? Dad took a long lunch today and actually made something", Bee offers while teasingly glancing at her dad.
Bella scrunches her nose, instantly smelling the grease in the air. She glances at their plates with mild disgust. "What did you make?" Bella asks politely.
"Chicken", Bee says.
"Rabbit", Charlie counters.
Bee glares at Charlie while Bella turns green at the idea. "Well it tastes like chicken", Bee challenges.
Bella turns down the dinner and offers to make them both a salad later on. The two internally groan at the idea. Bella continues walking towards the stairs.
Interrupting her once again, Bella stiffens as Charlie calls out to her again. "Bella, can you take Bee with you tomorrow? I have an early shift and won't be able to take her in for her exams".
Bella looks at Bee. Her eyebrows tighten with confusion and Bee immediately offers answers.
"I have to test at the school once a month to check if I'm actually learning at home". Bee smiles tightly at Bella, hoping to come off as grateful.
Bella considers her sister. Half-sister, Bella reminds herself. Despite the awkward nature of Bee's existence, she couldn't find it in herself to deny her a simple favor.
"That should be fine. We leave at 7:30", Bella says before finally escaping to her room. Bee groans.
☆☆☆
A beaten orange Chevy trunk pulls into the school parking lot with cautious ease. A ethereal being with venomous glands can't help but watch Bella through the large window on the back of her trunk. Edward Cullen, mind reading vampire, and currently undecided if he wants to eat Bella or kiss her.
Normally his singer's expression gives off no hints towards her emotions. Bella is always the calm in every storm, but anxiety wrinkles her forehead.
Edward watches her exit her truck, taking a small leap onto the ground. Bella glances down, takes a deep breath and then adjusts her backpack.
What worries plague her today?, Edward thinks.
To his surprise, a crank is heard inside of her truck and the passenger seat pops up. Edward hears a loud groan, and a woman pops open the passenger door.
"I hate mornings", the woman says before stepping out of the vehicle.
Bella walks around her truck. The wind picks up a breeze. It's merciful enough to blow in the opposite direction of the vampire.
Alice stands still, but Edward sees the slight movement she made to hide her flinch. He almost killed her, again. He hears the remnants of a fading vision.
The wind is uncharitable to the young Bella Swan. It blew its strongest wind towards Edward. Enchanting him. Challenging his weakness.
While he hoped that he took a moment to consider Bella. That he rationalized her humanity. His actions spoke louder.
As if he was an addict given the chance to try Oxycontin for the second time; he pounced on her clumsily.
Jumping through the air, his fangs were the first to touch her. He dug deep, almost snapping her neck clean off.
As his monster had finally won, all he could think was how sweet she tasted.
The wind is kind to him. He would not lavish in her sweet taste today.
As he watched Bella's hair ruffle slightly, he couldn't help but think she looked winsome as her soft brown hair curled around her neck.
Bella waited for the woman at the end of her truck. Edward growls at the fading memory, but also at the imposing woman.
She stood 2 inches taller and wider than Bella. Her face curled up weakly.
While Edward understood the allure that sweet smells had, the chemically sweet scent of fresh hair dye on the woman's head only made him grimace.
He glares at the wild purple that stains not only her head but her ears as well. "I'll be in the office", the woman tells Bella.
The woman walks forward a few steps, and then turns around to thank Bella while taking steps backwards.
"Thanks for the ri-". The woman's head hits the corner of a parked SUV.
She spins for a second before straightening herself. She points finger guns at Bella before quickly walking inside; hands on her ears.
"They have to be related", Edward says. Emmett bellows a deep laugh.
☆☆☆
Testing in the Vice Principal office was excruciating for both Bee and the woman who sat across from her.
She would set a timer for 50 minutes per section, and would begin typing nonstop on her archaic computer.
The woman expected silence even if Bee finished her test before the timer rung. Bee counted the number of keys the woman would press in-between section changes.
She got up to 483 on the last section before the woman stopped typing. She opened an empty folder, lifted it and then rummaged around her desk.
She sighs and offers Bee sympathetic eyes. "It seems that Mr. Molina forgot to submit the Biology exam for you".
Bee widens her eyes, but remains quiet. The woman dials his classroom on a bulky wired desk phone. She speaks quickly and quietly to Mr. Molina.
Ending the call, she signals Bee to standup. "You'll take your exam in his classroom now. After your done, feel free to take lunch and then head back here to do the essay portion".
The woman hands her a lunch voucher, a #2 pencil, and writes the classroom number in the back of a napkin.
Utterly confused, Bee is out of her office before she realizes what happened.
I've never walked through the school.
She turns to the elderly receptionist who sat a few feet from her. "Hi. Can you please show me where Mr. Molina's class is?"
Bee feels that the gods have granted her mercy for the woman agrees and walks with Bee.
They walk the terribly long hallway, up the steep stairs and the lady points to the farthest classroom on the right. Before Bee could thank her or ask her where she could find the lunchroom, the elderly lady left.
Anxiety bubbles her stomach, yet she braved her steps towards the classroom. She knocks once before entering.
Inside took a stubby man with thick black curls that hung damp under the weight of gel. The students in the class were working in pairs, toying with a microscope.
He walks up to her, annoyance painting his face. "Are you Beatrice?", he asks.
Bee nods her head and holds up the the folded napkin that had his classroom number scratched onto it. "Are you Mr. Molina?"
"So it seems". He hands her a small packet and points her to an empty desk in the middle of the classroom. It stood out as it was the only one in the laboratory.
Bee ignores the confused looks that students throw at her. She didn't know if the stares were due to her interruption in their classroom routine or their general confusion on the assignment. She settles down and opens the packet.
Ok question 1: Mitochondria is the ____ POWER HOUSE OF THE CELL… Bee scribbles her answers quickly– guessing when it came to identifying cells in a patchy black and white image.
One table up she sees her sister Bella.
Bella leans close to the boy next to her. He tells her something Bee can't hear. Bella bites her lip and shakes her head in response.
Bee paused for a second to really watch them. The boy next to Bella sits tightly in the tall chair. His left hand clenches tightly on his lap. His ankles wrap around the thin metal of the chair that seems to be warping.
Bee thinks his eyes, while similar in color to honey, were sharp as they stared at Bella.
"It's as if he's dissecting her into an image of his understanding", Bee thinks.
Bella notices the tension held under his smile, but doesn't comment on it.
As Bee watches them; as Bee watches him, fear creeps up her. It starts spreading its tendrils through her stomach. It chokes her voice, and blinds her eyes. It warns her– a predator was near.
Her hands shake. She wants to scream for Bella. She wants to warn Bella. As adrenaline shoots through her, Edward laughs.
It chimes through the classroom, clinging Christmas bells as it echoes. He is beautiful", Bee thinks. Suddenly, she sees a diaphanous man with enchanting red hair.
Despite the gloom that surrounds the blue Forks, his smile makes Bee think the sun is shinning. He is like the sun.
Bee finishes the last of her test questions, and is quick to whisper to her sister. "Psst Bella".
Bella jumps slightly in her chair. The chatter of the classroom returns as she remembers that she is not alone with him. She turns behind her blinks away the shock at the sight of Bee.
"What are you doing here?", Bella whispers.
Bee holds up her test, but doesn't elaborate. Bella opens her mouth to question her again, but Bee interrupts her.
"Why is Adonis sitting next to you?"
Bella blinks at her again. It registers to her after a moment that she is talking about Edward.
The boy next to her smiles slightly, only looking at Bella as he does so.
"This is Edward. He is my lab partner", Bella says while emphasizing the word my. Her stomach flutters as she does so.
Bee fights off a smile, and glances at the boy, Edward, next to Bella. No longer was he shinning ball of light. While still ethereal, Bee would describe the boy as boyish on account to how he was looking at her sister.
"He is your lab partner?", Bee states while teasingly emphasizing the word your. Some students turn to stare at them. It irritates all three of them.
Blush blooms on Bella's neck. Edward pushes himself further from her. His eyes widen in what looks like hesitancy but Bee would argue infatuation.
He turns to Bee, eyes narrowing slightly. Keeping a polite smile, he speaks to her. "Yes, I am her lab partner". Edward emphasizes every word and only glances once at Bella.
Bee smiles widely, confusing Edward, and embarrassing Bella. "Got it", she chirps.
The bell rings.
☆☆☆