Isabella and Paul Lahote were sitting side by side on the plane that was heading straight for Seattle Washington from Texas. Going to live in some small town called Forks, a place that apparently no one has ever even heard of...to live with a man they've never even heard too much about, much less cared to even find out anyway. They've always lived with their mom, Renee, since they were babies. She's raised them for the past 17 years, not some guy named Charlie Swan.

They were being sent to live with their father for their last year of high school and until they turned 18 years old. They didn't really have a choice...Renee was going to prison for a long time. But Bella and Paul never wanted for anything, Renee took care of them—her 'business trips' kept her away for days at a time some months, but they had food in their bellies and a big roof over their heads. And all of the shit teenagers could ever hope to have and don't need in their possessions.

Neither of them were aware of what their mother did to keep up their lavish lifestyles, they've asked once but all she really told them was that she was a keeper of a world that was not yet ready to co-exist with theirs. It was confusing but neither of them bothered to ask about it again. But now? Now the Lahote twins were sitting side by side on the plane quietly, wondering and feeling guilty, angry and sad.

Guilty because they lived such a life, grew accustomed to having nothing but the best...and it might've landed the only parent they've ever known in prison simply because she had been working a lot more and was trying to keep up with her two kids to make them happy. When in reality, they probably didn't need half of the shit they had.

Angry at her for not being a criminal in the first place, but for getting caught and leaving them stranded and alone with a man that didn't even know them nor them him. It wasn't fucking fair. They were 17 years old! Old enough to make their own decisions, right?

Sad because...well, she was their mom. Their only parent. She loved them, raised them, cherished and supported their every whim and dream. Sure they were shitheads as she loved to call them time to time because they were rough around the edges. They both played sports, both got into fist fights...both liked being outside and getting into trouble together, and also watching each other backs—just how she taught them. This new guy, the sperm donor Charlie...he could never fill her shoes. He could never be their parent.

It was far too late but no one really had a choice in the matter.

Isabella sighed heavily, and Paul chuckled dryly as he nodded in agreement to her sigh, "This is bullshit."

"I miss mom...do you think she's okay?"

Paul shrugged halfheartedly, "I guess so...I hope so. They sent her to a super-max prison...so she's safe from the other prisoners." Paul sat up a little bit more and leaned in closer to his sister to avoid any prying ears, "What did you do with the flash drive and credit card she gave you?"

Isabella smirked at her brother, "Trust me, it's safe. Mom will be home before we graduate."

A week before Renee was busted in the wee hours of the morning at a private Texas airport coming back home from a business trip...she had sat her kids down and explained a few things, but never went into explicit detail about much. Just that she would have to go away for a little while and for them not to worry but she also needed them to keep track of her business documents and all of her money, which was also their future inheritance as well. Renee was smart she encrypted the hard-drive and she was the only one with the key, and she moved all of her money into one super off shore account and kept only one card available for usage.

A singular black card with a chip on it. There was no name on it, no expiration date...and it was heavy. Neither knew how much was on it exactly but Renee instructed them to use when they wanted to, but to use it wisely. As in, make sure no one is watching you when you do. The DA's office wouldn't be able to keep Renee for long if they couldn't find where the paper trail ended. And they couldn't go after the twins...they tried but Renee raised them up to be responsible and loyal.

Paul, fully trusting his sister, nodded and left it at that.

Chief Swan had been waiting at the terminal for them wearing his uniform and standing out like a sore thumb, he was the first person the twins spotted when they came out of the terminal. They'd been aware of the mans occupation prior to them leaving Texas (the irony, right?) and had a picture of him, so they knew exactly who we was. And given that he was looking directly at them, he knew who they were too. And he didn't seem all that much impressed, not that it bothered either teen.

It wasn't so much as Bella who Charlie was frowning at but at Paul...Paul who had a quarter sleeve tattoo on his left arm and a full sleeve on his right all the way down to his wrist. It was what he wanted for his 17th birthday and of course, being 17 that meant a parent had to accompany him for all the visits at the tattoo shop. For Bella, all she wanted was a car. The very same car that was being shipped to Charlie's address in the next 24 hours. Whether he was aware of it or not, Bella didn't care.

When it became awkwardly apparent that neither Charlie or Paul were going to back down from their macho stare down, Bella sighed and rolled her eyes as she nudged her brother, making him grunt and back down...for now.

"You're Renee's kids alright." Charlie finally said, shaking his head and ignoring the glares he got for it, "Grab your stuff, and let's go. It's a long drive back to town and it's supposed to storm all day."

Great.

They followed after the man to go and get their luggage. Once they were outside they saw the dark storm clouds rolling in, and both of them couldn't help but miss those bright, clear Texas skies with the white clouds and unforgiving sun. Now, it was just dark sky, dark clouds, no sun.

"This is fucking depressing." Bella grunted, throwing her duffel bag full of clothes in the trunk of Charlie's police Jeep next to Paul's three duffel bags (Bella had the rest of her belongings stuffed in the trunk of her car and in the backseat.

"Hey! Watch your mouth," Charlie closed the trunk and settled them both with what he considered a stern look—their mom did it better, way better, "I don't know what the hell let you two get up to but none of that is gonna fly with me, you got that?"

Isabella smirked and raised her hands in surrender, "Sure, whatever. Sorry."

Paul grunted but nodded, "Yeah, man."

Charlie didn't like their attitudes but there was a time and a place, and now wasn't either. He accepted their responses and got in the Jeep. Paul, refusing to sit up front, opted for sitting in back and Bella joined him. If Charlie was bothered by the fact that neither of his estranged children wanted to sit up front with him, he didn't show it. Hell, he didn't show much of anything in the next 15 minutes of them driving in silence. The silence was a little tense and the music playing on the radio wasn't helping much either.

When the highway they were on finally narrowed into a two lane highway and the trees were thicker and closer together, Charlie switched off the radio and the twins tensed up knowing that a lecture was coming. One they absolutely did not want to hear, least of all from this man.

"Few ground rules before we get to the house. They told us about your...track records at school, both the good and the bad and I'm gonna tell you both this now. Fighting is not tolerated in the Swan household, you understand? My wife and I have a good reputation going and we don't need or want either of your spitting on it. We don't allow our own kids to do it, and we damn sure aren't going to let you. Got it?"

Bella rolled her eyes, and scoffed quietly as Paul dropped his head back on the headrest in utter despair, "We got it. No defending ourselves if someone starts shit. Oops, I mean trouble." Paul snickered next to her and Bella met Charlie's warning glare in the mirror with a raised eyebrow.

"And another thing...you're both going to get jobs."

"What?!" "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Both of you are getting jobs. I don't know what nonsense Renee had you both used to but with me? You're gonna work and you're gonna earn your keep. We'll go over the curfew and house rules at dinner."

Paul and Bella shared a long agonizing look. They knew they were going to hate this, but damn. They had so much that they wanted to say to each other, but with Charlie well within hearing range they couldn't so the rest of the car ride was in awkward, tense silence. By the time they got to Charlie's 2 story home, the storm was beginning to catch up with them.

"Uh, nice place." Bella commented a little awkwardly, shutting the front door behind her. And it was nice, just...not what she was used to. She was used to open, and clutter free. A multi-million Texas house with freshly cut solid green grass, and an evenly lined up fence with a pristine concrete drive way. Their house had pictures of their little family every where but it was organized and tasteful.

Charlie just grunted in reply and Bella rolled her eyes, whatever. "Sue?! We're home!"

"Okay!" Someone called out from the kitchen before appearing around the corner. Paul and Bella thought the exact same thing when they saw her...she looked stern and that she didn't take any shit, and that she wasn't going to put up with theirs either. Damn. This is hell. She looked like the natives that lived a little south of the town that Bella had read up on when she researched this none existent place. Her long dark hair framed her face perfectly and actually reinforced that stern look she had going on.

"Oh wow," Sue breathed, smiling wide at the twins as she came to stand next to Charlie, "Welcome to Forks, you two."

"Uh, thank you." Paul mumbled, wishing the woman would stop looking at them so intently, like she was looking for something but wasn't quite finding it. It made him uncomfortable.

Charlie cleared his throat, "Sue, this is Isabella and Paul. Twins, this is my wife Sue. You'll mind her, you hear?"

"I think they get it, honey," Sue cut in gently, knowing how stressed her husband has been in the past week about this entire situation but she knew that while he was stressed, Isabella and Paul had to have it 10 times worse. They just lost their home, their culture and the only parent they've ever known. Sue ignored Charlie's grunt and smiled at the two teenagers that were fidgeting in front of her, "Leah and Seth are upstairs studying, you'll get to meet them later. But for now let's get you two settled...follow me, please."

Sue led them past the living room, towards the flight of stairs with Charlie behind them, helping Paul with his luggage. But already Bella felt stuffed inside of the house. 4 people living in this house was enough, but now 6? It was definitely pushing it.

"Unfortunately, we only have 4 bedrooms..." Sue started, and Bella groaned internally, here we go... "Leah and Seth have their own rooms, and Charlie and I have mine...the only other room we have left to offer is the guest room. So you two will have to share, or one of you will have to sleep on the couch downstairs but we got a bunk bed set over the weekend. The bottom is a Queen and the top is a twin—"

"I call the bottom." Bella said, interrupting Sue as she pushed her way into the room and dropped her single duffel bag and backpack on the bed, and smirked at her brother who just glared at her but he really didn't mind it either way.

"Right well," Charlie set Paul's bags, "We'll let you two get settled...you two really okay with sharing a room then?"

"It's not like you're giving us much of a choice, Charlie." Bella shot back, meeting his gaze with a raised eyebrow.

Before Charlie could say anything, Sue stepped in with a smile, "We'll leave you two alone to unpack...new sheets are in the closet on the top shelf. Dinner will be ready in an hour, okay? If you need anything, Leah and Seth are just down the hall."

Bella sighed but nodded while Paul just sat at the compute desk, testing out the squeaky chair. It was clearly overused and deserved to be trashed. ASAP. Finally when the door closed, leaving just the two of them in the room, Paul groaned loudly.

"Fuck man! This is bullshit."

Bella went to the closet and pulled out the package of sheets that Sue was talking about and groaned...cotton. Seriously? Yes she was spoiled but damn it... "We definitely have to get out of here... or break mom out or something..."

"Who even shares a room anymore?" Paul said, staring up at ceiling as he spun around in the chair.

Bella began unpacking the sheets to put on the bed, listening to her brother complain but not really offering much on a comment. There wasn't really much she could say to cheer him up when she was feeling the exact same way. The most they could do was ride out the storm the best that they could.

"Well, at least we have the whole weekend to get our shit together before school on Monday."

Paul shrugged, not really seeing the silver lining, "Because that makes everything better."

"It doesn't but you know what will? Getting off your ass and helping me unpack...we're in this together, Paul. You're not the only one suffering, alright?"

Her older brother finally got up and started helping with his own luggage, and helping his sister organize their new room the best that they could, keeping in mind that the rest of Bella's stuff was coming Saturday morning. Their room wasn't that big, not for both of them to be living in it but they were going to make it work. They didn't have much of a choice anymore.

They had been working quietly side by side making their room as comfortable as possible, even breaking a little bit of a sweat and time had slipped by when they heard Sue call from downstairs;

"KIDS! Dinner time!"

Bella and Paul heard room doors opening down the hall, and two sets of loud footsteps moving down the hallway, past their closed door. No one bothering to even knock on their door, but really why would they? The neighbors probably heard Sue's dinner call.

"I'm not hungry. Can you just tell them I fell asleep or something?"

"Don't rock the boat, Bella. Just 10 minutes?" Paul didn't want to go down there alone, he didn't do well with awkward and being put on the spot. He had a quick temper and he didn't want to blow up because he was uncomfortable...it's happened before and no one came out the winner of that little incident.

Bella scoffed at her brothers audacity when he's been just that since meeting Charlie, "Fine...I hope she didn't make stew." she made a face at the idea and Paul smirked.

"It's wet and cold here, small town...small house...20 bucks she made stew." he held out his hand and Bella rolled her eyes but took the bet anyway, it was probably a fools bet too. She followed him out of the room, and down the stairs...show time.

It's been a while since I've written anything, lol, so please be kind. I had been watching the movie 'Stick It' and I was like Missy Peregrym would've been the perfect Bella. Yeah, I still think the casting for her was wrong. *Shrug* Anyway, hope you all enjoyed so far.

Peace.