Alright folks, here's the first chapter in this little exploration! Chapters will start with time-stamps, and will be varying lengths.

Things to note: This is going to be an AU in which Bella has a twin sister, which I'm using to help explain some of her behavior in the books. For the most part though, everything is going to stay pretty close to canon. Biggest exception to that: Jacob isn't going to imprint on Renesmee.

This chapter is mid-New Moon!

March 16th, 2006

"Bells? You okay?" Charlie asked, pausing halfway to the front door.

She nodded slowly, "Yeah, I just… noticed the date."

He looked at the calendar on the wall and stood there for a moment, "Wow, fifteen years." His hand shook a little as he ran it through his graying hair, "Damn. I didn't even realize. I can stay home if you want, Lord knows Billy'll understand."

"You don't have to." She said softly. She'd gotten used to him not worrying about her.

Charlie sat his bag down, "I can, if you want. You've never been here on this day, you were in Arizona last year."

Bella sucked in a deep breath, "I didn't realize." She bit her lip and hated the rush of guilt that spread in her gut, and a little morbid humor about her being in the hospital on March sixteenth more than once in her life.

"I didn't either." He said gruffly.

Bella forced a small smile, not wanting to spend the day awkwardly dancing around Charlie, "You don't need to stay. I'm spending the day with Jake."

His eyes brightened, as usual, at the mention of Jacob, but he frowned slightly, "It's a Thursday. Shouldn't he be in school?" There was a moments hesitation before he added, "Shouldn't you?"

Bella grimaced, scrambling for an appropriate response, "It's Spring Break. We're hanging out at the Reservation after I work on a project with a couple of girls from school. Doing homework and stuff with Jake. I'll probably be there pretty late."

Charlie let out a long sigh, "I'm glad you and Jake worked out whatever was going on between you two the last couple of weeks. That boy makes you happy."

She smiled back at him, but felt it even less than usual. "He's a good friend." The childish part of her wanted to over-emphasize the word 'friend', but Charlie wouldn't understand any better what was actually going on. In the fantasy world in his head, she and Jacob would get married and have lots of kids, and never ever leave the area. That, and he and Billy would have even more excuses to sit and watch ball games together.

Charlie awkwardly kissed the side of her head, "Alright, Kiddo. Have a good day, and…be safe."

"I will." She told him, but her thoughts had spiraled into that desperate place where she needed…had to see Edward. Charlie wasn't going to approve of any of her methods.

Bella managed school work for nearly three solid hours, but the lunch break they took proved to be too much. The meal she had packed held little interest, and she just wanted to get away from all the asinine comments and stupidity. What made it worse was, somehow, sweet Angela seemed to remember what March sixteenth meant to the Swan family.

It was the day Joanna had died.

It was also the day the tentative relationship between Officer Charles Swan and his young wife Renee Swan had fractured beyond repair. She had never liked Forks, never wanted to be tied down, but as soon as their girls had vanished, Renee had started blaming him. And when Joanna never came home, well, Charlie had good as murdered Joanna himself. Bella wasn't sure if her mother had ever forgiven him, but sometimes, she wasn't sure her mother even remembered she'd had a second daughter. For flighty Renee, it would probably have been easier just to pretend, to block out the pain completely year after year until the source of it was almost entirely gone.

Bella couldn't forget though.

Before Edward and vampires had burst into her grey life, Joanna's blue eyes, their mother's eyes, had pretty much haunted Bella's every waking moment. Today was a day she couldn't forget, but it was one she'd forgotten before. Guilt gnawed at her, worse than usual because of something she'd done a year ago.

She feigned a headache to get rid of her classmates without looking like a total bitch, and drove to the Reservation, away from Angela's sympathetic glances, to the cliffs where she'd seen Jacob cliff-diving. She had to see Edward, needed to feel like he was with her, even if just for a split second. She texted Jacob telling him to meet her there, but when she got to the cliffs, Bella didn't feel like waiting.

And Edward came.

Just before she hit the water, she saw a plume of red that looked just like Victoria's hair, but all thoughts of the vampire were out of her head as soon as she met the water. All the air was knocked out of her, and the current instantly started dragging her down.

Against the sting of the water, Bella opened her eyes, and instantly sucked in more air. There was another girl in the water, gazing back at her with a livid expression.

The girl in front of her gasped, and Bella read her own name on the girl's lips. She brought her fists up, banging on an invisible wall between them as the water pulled Bella further down. Bella let go. She'd seen Edward, and she'd seen…Joanna? What else was there to fight for?

Just before she lost consciousness, she thought she heard a female voice scream, "Swim, damnit! Bells, swim!"

The next thing she knew, Jacob was leaning over her, "Bella, what the hell? You almost drowned! What's wrong with you?"

Bella sat up, those blue eyes haunting her even more than they had before. "I'm sorry. I should've waited for you. Thanks."

"Thanks?" Jacob echoed incredulously. His miffed attitude only intensified through the rest of March and into April, particularly with her fleeing to Italy to save Edward. Why he was still her friend, Bella honestly had no clue.

Let me know what you think!

-Jenn