Welcome to Denali

AN: So I happen to be the few who love Tanya/Bella pairing so I thought I'd give it a try and write a story seeing as there are very few stories centered around these two. Tell me what you think, please. Reviews will decide if I continue this or not, no use in writing a story that no one is reading.

"So tell me why did you move from a one horse town to a no horse town?" Bella questions her father's sanity as she helps him unpack the uhale. "Better yet, could you tell me why I decided it was a good idea to spend my senior year out here with you?" She smarted off as she hefted yet another box label 'kitchen' which she brought of course.

Charlie laughed as he too lifted up a much heavier box full off his sport stuff, Bella doesn't really know what's in there. "For one, the department out here is paying me a lot more, secondly, did you really want to be stuck on a year long honeymoon trip as Renee follows Phil around?" Charlie raises a brow at her in challenge.

Bella glares at her father, but he is right, she didn't want to follow Renee, following Phil, as he follows his minor league baseball career. "Ugh! I hate it when you're right." Bella groans as she sets the box down on the kitchen table.

"I really am glad you decided to spend time with your old man, Bells." Charlie blushed and scratched the back of his head at the admittance.

Bella gives him a small, but sincere, smile. "I'm glad I did too, Charlie. Besides, " Bella smirks, "Phoenix was just too big and loud and wonderfully warm, you can only have so much paradise before it gets boring."

Charlie grumbles beneath his breath as he reaches out to smack Bella's side with some leftover newspaper. "Keep it up and you'll be grounded."

Bella laughs as she dances out of the way. "You're too soft for that old man." She leaves him there in the kitchen as she goes for her boxes at the bottom of the stairs. One at a time, she carries box after box up to her new room, the house is small, but it has charm. There's a nook just big enough for Bella to fit her full sized bed lengthwise in the middle of the wall directly in front of her bedroom door, with a window at the foot wall and a long window following the inside length of the bed. Her bed is tucked into the nook so that the fame of her bed lines up with the rest of the wall. The rest of the room is square, her closet is tucked into the front side of the wall at the foot of her bed and a bookshelf covers the front wall.

She has a desk pushed against the wall left of the door frame and a long dresser running the length between the left front wall to the back wall. On the right side of the door frame there's a large bookshelf that houses Bella's favorite books that are sparactly spaced out by candles and little nicknacks she's collected over the years like sea shells and even a small cactus. There's a reading window on the right wall that faces the back woods. The nook is draped by soft curtains and fairy lights outline it floor to ceiling and across the top. The floor are made of old polished wood, but she's put a rug extending from the side of her bed out into the rest of the room, leaving about two feet of exposed wood on the three remaining side.

She was happy to find that each window had a good sized awning over the top so that when it rained and snowed she could keep the windows open without fear of her things getting wet, if she chose to. It takes her just a few hours before she gets the room to her standards. Her bed is topped with three white covered pillows and a huge downy white comforter, the curtain draped across the nook's frame is a pretty, soft blue, same as the one on the window in front of her desk. The rug is fluffy, soft and white, as Bella doesn't wear her shoes inside her room, she puts them in her small shoe cubby shelf by the door.

Everything is light and airy, and Bella actually feels like it's home. Bella grins, clearly proud of herself for unpacking and putting everything in it's place. She even placed her her favorite book on the lip of the reading bench window, the cushy pillow of the bench thick enough to keep Bella from feeling the wood beneath, and each side decorated with pillows for back support. She spends her time putting up a large cork board over her dresser and repins the dozens of pictures back into their places.

Before she knows it, Charlie calls her down for dinner, pizza. She sits at the table and grabs a slice of the mushroom and cheese, Charlie only ordered it for her anyways. "So...what's the verdict?" Charlie takes a drink of his beer, waiting for Bella to respond.

Bella finishes her chewing before she answers. "Well...it's not the worst place I've ever lived in." She cracks a grin. "In all honesty...I love my room, and the house is nice...I may even grow to tolerate the cold."

Charlie smiles behind his mustache, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he lets out a belly laugh. "Well the room is a start." Bella answers him with a laugh of her own, glad to at least have a normal relationship with Charlie, as normal as it can be when she's only seen the man a handful of times since she was thirteen. When they've finished eating, Bella offers to clean up which Charlie gladly accepts as he takes another beer into the living room to watch some sport or another on the tv. She puts the leftovers in one pizza box and puts that into the fridge, Charlie will probably have another slice or two before the night ends.

She quickly goes about making herself a cup of tea, chamomile, and heads up the stairs after shouting a goodnight over her shoulder to Charlie. She gets a grunted version in return. The site of her room, bathed in the soft blues of her christmas lights gives her a sense of comfort. She settles herself in bed, her cup sitting on the window's ledge as she lifts and opens the one spanning the length of her bed. The cold slithers in and wraps Bella in crisp, wild air.

She'll probably never admit it, but the stars might be even more bright and beautiful out here. Ok, so she has no problem admitting it, especially with the sight from these windows. As far as her eyes can see there's only stars and trees. Maybe she would find something good in the wilds of Alaska and maybe that something would make her miss home a little less. She can only hope.

Turns out, everyone loves the new girl, well they do in Denali because Bella seriously believes that her showing up is the biggest thing that's happened here since they discovered a snow shovel, but maybe she was being too critical, but maybe she isn't. By the time she gets to lunch she's mentally exhausted, and it has nothing to do with the mind numbingly easy classwork she's been doing. The only, and she does mean only, saving grace of the day, so far, is Angela, a sweet girl she met in her English class. This is what lead her to her current predicament.

She sits at a table in the noisy cafeteria, and she's not alone. Angela, the sweet girl is next to her and then there is the rest. Eric, Angela's boyfriend, is nice enough if not a little eager. Tyler seemed okay, though he's already snuck a kiss to her cheek, which was rectified when he tripped over thin air while running away. Then there's Jessica, the girl will not shut up about 'who's who' in the school, and Bella has noticed that the girl isn't just talking to hear her own voice, but to get the attention of Mike. This guy, this Mike, is a tool. He won't stop asking Bella questions, and he won't stop staring at her, it's creepy.

All of this changes the moment a group walks into the cafeteria and everybody, everybody, quiets down for a whole second before the chaos starts back up. The group consists of two girls and three boys. They are all pretty and pale, and from this distance it looks like they're all related in some way. "The Cullens." Jessica seems to catch onto Bella's curiosity. Bella looks at her and Jessica takes that as a sign to continue. "They're all adopted. The blondes are Rosalie and Jasper Hale, twins. The big guy is Emmett Cullen, he's Rosalie's boyfriend. The other girl is Alice Cullen, she's dating Jasper, then there's Edward." Jessica say his name as though he were a god, and Bella almost laughs at the concept. "Apparently he's too good for the rest of us mere mortals."

Bella smirks as Jessica stabs her salad with way more force than is required. "Personal experience?" The table erupts with mixed reactions. Mike and Tyler burst out in peals of laughter, choking around the words that deem Bella right in her assumptions. Angela stares at Bella in shock and Eric keeps his gaze on Jessica, maybe waiting for her to blow up. Simultaneously, five bell like voices fill the cafeteria with laughter almost as though they heard Bella's remark, but Bella thinks of it as a coincidence. Jessica's face turns a shade of red that reminds Bella of molten lava, she decides to take pity on the girl. "Well, his loss Jess, you're a hottie. I bet he's gay. I mean, just look at his hair, he's trying way too hard to look like he doesn't care."

Jessica perks up at her words. "Yeah, I know right?" She eagerly agrees with Bella, obviously trying to move the attention off of her previous embarrassment.

"Definitely." Bella give her an exaggerated wink, before sparing one last glance at the Cullens. The one called Edward seems to be sulking while the others laugh around him, again Bella shrugs it off. When she turns back to the group, she does so with an evil grin. "Mike." Bella's grin widens as the boy's attention falls on her. "Rosalie, she's hot, right?" At first the whole table looks confused, most of all Mike, but then the boy grins.

"Yea." His simple answer might come off as confident to the rest of the table, but Bella senses that it's bullshit by the way he fiddles with his soda bottle cap.

Bella locks his eyes on hers as she lowers her voice. "You should go ask for her number. I mean, you are the football team captain, right? I'm sure you can take the big guy if need be."

For a second, Mike's eyes glaze and then he puffs out his chest. "I am the Captain and I could take him, getting the hottie's number should be no problem." Mike rises from the seat and the table, including Bella, spins around to watch him approach the Cullen table.

"He's going to die." Eric whispers as he readies his camera to catch the murder on film. Tyler nods in agreement but fails to say anything.

"Bet you five bucks that Emmett decks him," Jessica whispers as she hurriedly takes a five dollar bill from her pocket.

Angela pulls a five from her pocket as well, "Bet you five that it's Rosalie that hits him."

"Done." Jessica agrees, but Bella shushes them as Mike comes to a stop in front of the table. He puts his hands on the table with a boldness that might just kill him, and without looking even the slightest bit scared he asks for the number, or at least Bella thinks he asks because suddenly his posture changes from confident to scared shitless as the blonde stands and copies his stance, but her confidence is real, and scary.

Suddenly, Mike makes a pathetic yelping sound then darts back to the table. He sits, as white as a ghost, with distant eyes. "What'd she say?" Eric almost leans over the table in his enthusiasm.

"She's going to cut of my balls and feed them to me. Why the fuck did I go over there?" Mike is genuinely confused, he is and Bella knows why, but damn does he look scared. Bella can't help it, she really can't. Her laughter is like a boom, it startles everyone at her table, and soon everyone but Mike catches her contagious laughter. Even as the bell rings and they stand up, Mike still sits there, confused. "Why did I do that?" He mumbles to himself until the group finally separates, Bella and Jessica head to Math together.

"I cannot believe that you got him to do that." Jessica is still giggling as she takes her seat in front of Bella. "How did you get him to do that?"

Bella grins as she takes the last seat in the first row by the door, behind Jessica, and it doesn't escape her knowledge that Edward walks in as well. "Guys will do anything for a pretty girl." Bella winks and grins like the chesire cat.

Jessica shakes her head as she sits sideways in her desk so that she can still look at Bella, while still being able to look at the teacher's desk. "Wow...just, wow." Jessica turns to attention as a low voice clears their throat and draws everyone's attention, Bella included, to the front, and that's when Bella sees her. She looks just like the Cullens, pale skin, otherworldly beauty and golden fire eyes. Bella watches her just like everyone else in the classroom.

"Good afternoon class." As the class repeats the greeting automatically, it finally clicks for Bella that this woman is the teacher. The teacher smiles, no, Ms. Denali smiles. Bella can see the nameplate on the woman's desk. Then, golden eyes connect with Bella. "It seems like we have a new student with us today, Isabella Swan. Why don't you stand and tell us a few things about yourself." Bella almost rolls her eyes but she settles with a sigh as she stands.

"I actually go by Bella," She corrects the teacher as she makes eye contact from across the room. "And how about I don't share." Bella keeps their gazes locked until the teacher nods, it takes seconds.

"How about you don't share," Ms. Denali repeats and, with a smirk, Bella returns to her seat as the rest of the class stares between the two in wonder. "Ok class listen up…"

Bella tunes her out and ignores the disbelieving stares pointed her way as Jessica turns around for a quick second. "She's not a guy, Bella, so how."

Bella smirks and leans forward to whisper at Jess. "Some girls will do anything for a pretty girl." Jessica sputters but quickly regains control over herself as she gapes at Bella, but Bella merely shrugs and starts copying the notes from the board.

"You should have seen it guys! Ms. Denali like totally backed down, it was the craziest thing I've ever seen." Jessica retells the tale of Math class as the group hang around Tyler's van. Bella shakes her head from her spot sitting half in the van by way of the opened side door.

Eric leans against the van beside Bella and grins down at her. "Can you please teach me in the ways of the force?" Bella laughs and Eric grins as Angela tucks herself into his side, never mind that Angela is a few inches taller than him.

Angela pats Eric on the chest. "Haven't you heard, Eric? A magician never reveals her secrets." The group shares another laugh. "Alright, I gotta go, my mom is expecting me home by 3."

Eric removes himself from the van's side. "Yea, me too. See you guys tomorrow, and Bella, just think about it, everyone needs a sidekick." He grins, almost falls, slipping on ice as he walks backward.

"Oh, and that's my ride, see you tomorrow, Bella, guys." Jessica waves as she gets into what looks like her mom's car. Bella waves in return and then she's gone.

"Do you need a ride, Bella?" Mike scuffles the toe of his boot on the ground.

Tyler nods, "Yea, either of us can give you a ride." Tyler smiles and it's a lot less creepy than Mike's 'sexy' smile.

"It's fine, Charlie should be here any minute." Bella smiles at the two as she walks to the nearest bench table. One at a time they leave Bella with the other lingering students in the parking lot, thankfully it still looks moderately full so she's not some loser waiting on a ride. Minutes tick by and Bella looks forward, constantly resisting the urge to look behind her, it feels like she's being watched. By the grace of whatever deity that exists, Charlie pulls into the lot, and only when she's safely in the car does she look back to see the perpetrator.

The Cullens. Great.

She's suffered a week of glares and weird looks from the Cullens, except Edward as he suddenly disappeared. Ms. Denali on the other hand only ever looked at Bella in a curious, and almost fascinated, type of way. As such, she's cut back on her 'suspicious' behavior, maybe she shouldn't have pushed Mike and Ms. Denali, maybe that was just too much for the first day of school. Bella doesn't really care though, it's not like she could get in trouble. However, that doesn't mean that this isn't extremely annoying. The only good thing to come out of this past week is the old, and Bella does mean old, red truck Charlie bought for her. It's paint is a little chipped and there's a dent on the left tire well, but Bella likes it and she's pretty sure Charlie only bought it because it was made around the same time he was born, sixty something.

As soon as Bella parks, next to Tyler's van, Tyler jumps into the bed and drums on the roof. "Bellaaaaa!" She shakes her head, laughing as she jumps out, backpack in tow. "Bella!" He grins down at her before jumping over the side and landing a few feet infront of her.

"Real smooth, Crowley." Mike almost sneers at Tyler, but he doesn't, instead he looks like he just bit a lemon.

Tyler throws an arm around Bella's shoulder, grinning at Mike. "Smoother than you, tell him Bella."

Bella laughs again, stepping out from Tyler's arm to throw her arms around Jessica and Angela's waists. "Let be honest, I'm the smoothest one here." As if on cue, the two girls pretend to swoon in Bella's arms, before the whole group collapses into laughter. Bella releases them and puts down her tailgate. She hops up and sits on the ledge, Angela and Jessica follow her lead. After a few minutes of chit chat, a familiar silver car and green jeep park across from Bella and wouldn't you know it, Edward Cullen is back.

"Would you look at that, pretty boy Cullen has decided to grace us with his presence." At first Bella thinks Mike is making a snide remark about Edward coming back to school, so she laughs, but then she sees it, Edward is coming their way.

Eric straightens up immediately. "Okay, act cool."

Bella whips her head around to look at him. "You're fucking shitting me, right?" She laughs in a disbelieving way, scoffing when Eric blushes. A throat clears itself and Bella turns back around. Edward is standing right there...and he doesn't speak. "Can we help you?" She raised an eyebrow as she prompts him.

"I was wondering if you'd allow me to walk you to class?" He grins and Bella thinks that it's supposed to be charming, but it looks cocky and more like an 'I'm better than you' smile.

"You're fucking shitting me, right?" Her friends shit a brick and fall into poorly concealed giggles.

Edward frowns and it creepily resembles the look a parent would give their child when disappointed. "Is there really a need for such language?"

Both of Bella's brows shoot up, her mouth gaping in a silent 'O'. "Would you look at that, the bell just rang." She stands, gathering her things.

"The bell didn't-"

"Don't want to be late for class, see you guys later." She waves to her friends before turning to Edward. "See you never, ok? Good. Bye!" Bella hurriedly makes her exit, only stopping when she's safely in front of her locker. That was a close one.

"Running from monsters?" The soft, purring voice makes Bella jump and spin to see who just scared the shit out of her.

Ms. Denali leans against the locker next to her and Bella gives a sigh of relief as she opens her locker the switch out her book. "Yea, the teenage boy variety."

Ms. Denali chuckles and it sends a shiver down Bella's spine. "Those are the worst." The blonde teacher give Bella a predatory smirk.

"Yea." Bella agrees with her, a little dazed and unable to look away from white teeth and red lips even as she shuts her locker.

"I've always believed that girls, older ones, are much less troublesome." Bella squints her eyes, trying to decode the tone Ms. Denali is speaking to her with, but the look is quickly lost as the actual bell rings. Ms. Denali give Bella another smile. "I'll catch you later, Bella." This time Bella is the one left behind.