Floss

It was raining when we arrived.

It had been raining in England as we had left; Teddy noted the symmetry with a weak hit of optimism. The drive had felt far longer than it truly was, and within a couple of hours the airport was a distant memory and we were at what was to be our new home. Most of our things had been shipped over, or left behind and new versions brought so my brother and I only had a few cases each. I couldn’t say the house wasn’t nice, it had a quaint feel, brown panels adorning the front and tall trees surrounding it like a fortress. That wasn’t really true and the closest house was less than fifty metres to the left but it just seemed secluded, much like the town in general.

Forks was hidden by miles of woodland and national park, trees stretching high into the grey sky, older than most of the buildings. It was beautiful and I was allowing myself a moment to realise that, to appreciate it before all of this new life became truly real when Teddy interrupted. “You haven’t mixed up our rooms have you? I still have the back one?” I rolled my eyes as our father twisted in his seat, the grey streaks above either ear stood out less in the dull lighting. “You still have your room Ted, don’t worry.” He smothered a yawn, before his eyes fell on me. “Alright Floss?” My nod was instantaneous, as was the following lie, “Yeah, just tired. I couldn’t sleep on the flight because of someone.” My younger brother smirked, the same dimple he shared with our Dad appearing on his left cheek. “What time will Carrie be up?”

“About seven,” He glanced at his watch unnecessarily, “Her sister or Sam will be dropping her off.” We both nod and the silence holds for a few moments. Teddy is itching to move, that’s clear, the long haul flight and time difference has done little to tire him and although initially he was disgusted with the idea of ‘ditching our lives and moving half way across the world’ that had morphed into excitement. I was more nervous.

“Come on, I wanna see it.” He pleaded, lower lip jutting out. My father laughed and agreed, warning him that there was still plenty to be done and furniture to be erected. It didn’t cause any hesitation and I followed the two of them in, ignoring the drizzle.

We started off with a tour of the house; it was hard to measure it against our home in England- although I would have to get used to seeing and calling Forks, USA home. But it was lovely to finally see it in person, Teddy was the right, pictures were misleading, hard to imagine. The décor was a little dated but I followed the run of conversation as Dad fired idea after idea at the two of us; how this would be moved, how this could be extended and all the rest. He wanted us to be happy here. It wasn’t as hard as I had imagined to feel a bubble of excitement breaking through the wall of nerves in my stomach.


“Once we get all your little bits in here it will feel more like home.”

I twisted, curling my leg up underneath me. We’d entered my room and had perched on the edge of the bed. Teddy was lost in his own bedroom, plotting where best to set up his TV and ancient gaming system. “It’s lovely Dad, really.” That wasn’t a lie, the room was smaller than my own at home, I correct myself mentally, smaller than my old room. The walls were a light orange, sunset, and the bed took up the majority of the space. Several of my favourite pictures and prints had been brought over with Dad a couple of weeks ago and were hanging on the walls. “I know it’s small, and I know it’s such a big change and shock to the system.” I cut through his rambles. “I’m fine Dad, honestly.”

His eyes scan over me, looking for some hint of my true emotions, for some sign I was deceiving him. Moving thousands of miles from where we had lived for the majority of my life wasn’t something I would have chosen to do, but we had agreed to make the best of it and I would be. I wouldn’t let him feel bad about this. “Promise?”

“Promise.” I said a little more firmly, ending that conversation. Muffled speech broke the quiet; “Sounds like Teddy’s on the phone to Logan.” Both of our lips pursed, Logan was the eldest, my other brother. He’d refused to come, he was an adult of course, close to twenty two and in the last year of his university course. He was too set in that life to break out now. He lived with his girlfriend on the edge of the campus. “I told him we wouldn’t ring him until it was a decent time over there.”

“I’m sure he won’t mind. He rang me earlier to let me know he had dropped you both off at the airport.” I nodded, it was still a touchy subject and there was tension between the two of them. Teddy seemed oblivious to it, he would have come either way- only fifteen. But I’d recently had my eighteenth birthday. I too, was officially an adult. I know Dad was scared that I would have chosen to stay back in Chelsea as well.

I couldn’t have done that to him. In truth, being all but alone with more distant relations or my friends wouldn’t have been healthy for me and we all knew that.

“Right.” He shoved himself up, tendons in his forearm jumping, “Let’s get all of your cases in before Carrie gets home and start sorting stuff out.”

I missed Carrie being dropped off, tossing clothes that had somehow become ridiculously creased in my case into one pile and hanging up what was salvageable for the near future. In fact, I’d slipped a cd into the small stereo plugged in one corner and had missed her arrival completely until there was a knock at my door. Obviously Carrie, Teddy would have burst in without any sort of prior communication.

I called out a ‘come in’ loosely, trying to decide which way a certain t-shirt should go when I finally turned around and was met with her wide smile. She shuffled over the few steps and pulled me as tightly against her protruding stomach as she could. “I’m so glad you’re finally here Florence…”

She squeezed me until I finally broke away, annoyed at the glassiness of my vision. I blinked back the tears, t-shirt all but balled up in my hands. “You’re massive!” I exclaimed once I was sure I had my voice back, “I mean, not bad but…”

“Tell me about it.” Her hands rested on her bump, “But still, nine weeks left, sure I’ll be bed bound by my due date!" That reminded me and I shoved one of the piles off the bed so she had room to sit. “How was the flight?” I kept unpacking as we spoke, going over the journey, the plan for the next few days. “And then you and Teddy could probably start at school on the Monday?”

She phrased it as question and I nodded, although this frown was too deep to hide well. “There are other ways around it you know, we’ve already spoken to the school here and your old one, you could just continue your A-levels and finish them this year. Then we can look at college applications, or if you wanted to go back to England and go to university there….”

“Why would I do that?” The words came out a lot harsher than I meant them too and I didn’t miss the lines that crossed her forehead. “Sorry, I mean… I’m here so I’m staying here. I’ll sort something out even if it means I have to do another year of school to get the high school diploma or whatever equivalent. I can work it out… I dunno...” I felt flustered suddenly, embarrassed and in truth a little hurt that they were clearly under the impression I was here as a formality and would be vanishing as soon as possible.

“We’ll get there honey.” She soothed, taking advantage of the break in my words. “Anyway, the boys are putting together the tv unit in your brothers room, what do you say we go pick up some food? There’s a lovely restaurant a couple of minutes away and they do take out. I really don’t fancy cooking, not that we’ve got enough to fill Teddy up anyway.” Again she was waiting for me to agree, I did so easily. “It’ll be nice to get a bit more of an idea where we are.”

“Well,” She struggled to stand up, although declining my hand, “Forks is lovely, I know its tiny compared to what you’re used to but you will get used to it.”

“And La Push isn’t far is it?” She shook her head. La Push was her home, it was where all her family had lived for generations. They had looked at us moving there and although there had been no set ‘no’ from the council who held a lot of influence there it obviously hadn’t seemed like the best idea. LA Push was a community of the Quileute tribe, and Dad, Teddy and I - three white English people wouldn’t exactly fit in.

There was no insult in that, it was tradition and since we were still so close I don’t think Carrie minded too much. Not that she was likely to say anything of course, I was fairly sure she would have done anything to have us all finally move over. Well, almost all of us.

“Not far at all, twenty minutes if you’re going at a decent enough speed. I think Allison wants to have us over for dinner tomorrow, so you can properly meet her and Sam.” The prickle of dread returned, Allison was in theory my step-aunt and I’d heard plenty about her and her apparent giant of a son Sam. “Don’t look so worried, it won’t be anything too big I promise. Emily, Sam’s fiancée will be there anyway, and she’s lovely.”

Large groups of people I didn't know wasn't something I was attracted to but I was hardly going to be awkward and decline going.

“I can’t be bothered to do this anymore, do you want to get food now?” She agreed and stuck her head into Teddy’s room, breaking up the sound of hammering and occasional swearing. “Should we pop in the store and pick up some bandages whilst we’re out as well?” She teased and my Dad let out the laugh only reserved for her. It was nice to hear it, it was something I felt we didn’t get to listen to much since Mum had died and everything else in the last few years.

I swallow down that guilt yet again.

We both slipped on coats, the rain still pattering softly upon the wet grass and I followed her into an old, and fairly grubby car.

Forks was mostly green, houses, most bigger but not of a dissimilar style to our own made way for a few shops. It was the trees that really caught my attention, I’d always wanted to live right out in the countryside when I was older, have some land, a house with a name not a number. Forks crossed off a portion of that dream, and with the rain the hills rising above us in the distance were shrouded in mist like something from a book. “Are the closest beaches in La Push then?” I asked, lifting my voice a little over the radio.

“Yeah, well the nicest ones around here are. There’s tons of little coves and cliffs as well.” She started to pull into a small car park, “Sam and all of his friends actually go cliff diving when the weather is nice.” She paused, adjusting the cars positioning until she was happy with how it was parked, “Don’t tell your brother though, the last thing I want is either of you leaping off of cliff tops.”

I scoffed.

“It’s not you I’m worried about.” That statement wasn’t entirely true but I kept mum, following her into the restaurant. She seemed to recognise most people and I knew within a few months so would I. The population of Forks was minute, La Push even smaller and I’d done some digging into the only local high school. There were barely over three hundred students, about eighty in the senior year I would be joining. Our previous school, not large by any means, had had over one thousand.

Teddy and I were going to stick out like sore thumbs.

Bella picked at her meal, not having to add much to the conversation. The game had infuriated Charlie to a previously unknown level and he’d been ranting about the score for the last twenty minutes. In truth she was waiting, expecting someone.

Alice had seen it, or rather her. Odd little flashes making little sense, which had made Bella’s best friend certain the mysterious blonde about to enter their little world would also be involved with the pack. Bella had been able to confirm that, Forks was still such a tiny place that the news a new family would be moving into town was huge.

Charlie had been aware for weeks, meeting the father himself. They were moving in three houses down and she’d seen Richard twice since he and his heavily pregnant girlfriend, Carrie, had started moving furniture in and planning for the upcoming arrival of his older children. He liked fishing so he had bonded with Charlie instantly. His daughter would also be entering Bella’s year, so Charlie had eagerly offered her as a make-shift friend/tour guide. Bella didn’t mind, she’d already endured being the new kid and if this girl was going to be involved in her life in other ways…she sighed, chewing on some tomato when the restaurant door opened.

Bella watched Carrie enter, bump first. She was from La Push. Bella would have asked Jacob about her but he’d refused outright to speak to her since Edward had come back. She swallowed that stab down, eyes trained on the door as a willowy girl followed Carrie in. It had to be her, she fit what Alice had described, taller than Bella easily, long dirty blonde hair. Alice had described her as looking somewhat like Rosalie; if Rosalie was human. Bella understood the comparison but clearly no mortal could ever touch the beauty that was Rosalie and this girl looked a little ill and underfed.

Carrie led her up to the counter, fiddling with a menu. Bella wanted to have the chance to try and suss out this stranger but unfortunately, Charlie was growing tired of her lacklustre responses to his story and had started fidgeting, looking around. He smiled when he spotted them both. Within a few seconds the two of them had come over, Bella recognised the slightly anxious look on the girls face, she’d felt exactly the same way when introduced to people she was only supposed to know through Charlie.

The two adults spoke at first, and the girl started fiddling with her hair, tossing it over one shoulder. She looked up and finally met Bella’s gaze, Bella curved her lips into what she hoped was a comforting smile and the girl returned it. When Alice had seen them meeting she’d wanted Bella to delve as much as possible, as if Bella would be able to meet someone and get their whole life story in minutes. She settled for silence, Alice may be able to chat easily and with anyone but that was a skill Bella severely lacked – and she knew it.

She didn’t even know how this girl was supposed to fit in, her role in the Cullen’s life. Alice had seen odd glimmers but there was always the chance they would never happen, that decisions would change and she’d just be another student at school. Alice wasn’t convinced, and Bella knew that she and Edward were keeping details from her. The most Alice would say is that she saw this girl in their home, saw her laughing with them.

It was clearly more than that, but Bella wasn’t about to dig too deeply when she finally had Edward and Alice back, there was enough tension in her life as It was. After all, this meal was the only time she had been allowed out after school (excluding work) in weeks. She was grounded for the foreseeable future.

Finally, Carrie and Charlie stopped, and his attention was turned to the girl. It was the usual questions, how was the flight, how are you finding Forks? She answered confidently in that clear stereotypical accent although she looked exhausted. Bella was waiting for the inevitable moment she was properly introduced and it came without fail. “Sorry, Florence, this is my daughter Bella.”

“Hi.” Bella kept her voice as chipper as possible and the smile on the girls face seemed more genuine. Florence; that was an odd name. Before she knew it Charlie was inviting this Florence around and she had promised to show Florence and her younger brother, ironically another Edward, around the High School on Monday. The woman working on the bar called Carrie over, bags of food ready and Florence, or ‘Floss’ as Carrie called her, rushed to grab them. They said their goodbyes and were gone.

Bella was still as clueless as she had been to begin with. Alice would complain.