Hey guys! Birobird here, introducing you to my new story. I know I should be buckling down on the rest of my unfinished catastrophes, but I couldn't hold this one in. The chapters will get long further along. If I've made any mistakes, please let me know and I'll fix that shit up. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!

Prude and Prejudice

Characters: Edward and Bella

Rated: MA for sexual content, violence, language and drug use.

1968

Bella Swan sat in the backseat of her parent's red Cadillac Eldorado. The Swan girl was a small, petite, intelligent, charming person—brought up in a heavily Catholic, god-fearing family. As she turned her head to look out her window, the San Francisco air blowing through her hair and filling her lungs. It was Summer time and the atmosphere was warm and playful. She had just completed her second last year of high school in St. Augustine's College for Girls; an honour student and class valedictorian. Bella was well groomed, her long brown curls neatly set into a careful array all the time, tied into a bun atop the crown of her head or in a ponytail. The cool bite of sea air rushed through the open window, stinging Bella's cheeks in a pleasant way.

She could taste the salt on her tongue and feel the heavy ocean air whip around her. Bella's father, Charlie Police Chief Swan from Seattle, Washington sat contentedly in the front seat aside her mother, Renee. Smiling slightly at the prospect of new opportunity in this foreign city, Bella watched her parents murmur to each other. They didn't seem as happy as Bella was about this move away from home. Personally, Bella couldn't think of a better possible way to spread her wings. She would be the first girl from her school to travel further than across state lines. But it had not been for Bella's benefit that they decided to uproot and resettle in San Francisco; Charlie had been transferred from his post in Seattle. Not that Bella was objecting, but Charlie, however, felt disgruntled about being forced to leave his home town and pull his daughter out of school. He was a decision maker and disliked having decisions such as these made for him. However, he did not let his family see; Renee was indifferent about their new home—wherever Charlie went, she would follow loyally like he expected her to.

The car rumbled down the high way, the cars growing sparse, the roads narrowing and the buildings getting lower to the ground; hitting suburbia.

There were more people travelling on foot around these areas; Bella readjusted her position in the backseat, hitching her feet underneath her so she could lift herself up a bit further. She thought it intriguing, different people to interact with. Martha and The Vandellas began to drum out of the radio.

"...It's like a heatwave...It's like a heatwave...Whenever he calls my name..."

Bella began to hum along, catching the melody of one of her favourite songs until her mother glanced at her reprovingly through the review mirror.

Instead, Bella watched the buildings whir past her eyes; bright colours, different shapes and scents. Bella was growing more and more excited about entering into this new world, one she would soon make her own. It was wondrous.

She prayed silently to the heavens for giving her such an experience to live; could this mean a task? A test, perhaps? Maybe God was giving her a gift. Whatever the reason, Bella knew that she was going to love her new city.

Car horns honked in the distance, car doors slammed, people chattered; their voices, different conversations faded in together and made more of a fuzzy background noise, like static from a radio.

Bella gripped the top of the glass window and stuck her head out, watching the street and it's many pedestrians who turned to stare at the girl.

She smiled at them and some smiled back; others just stared, some waved and some laughed maliciously. Bella just shook her head, ignoring childishness.

She glanced up above at the sun hanging high in the sky, only slightly obscured by fluffy clouds, the rest of the sky a beautiful blue hue. Bella thought it was absolutely enthralling to find herself here at the beginning of her Summer vacation; like a refreshing start to a refreshing new life she was about to establish from the base her parent's provided.

Bella thought about what her new room would look like with all her belongings in there; would it need to be painted? Where would she put her bookcase and her bed? She almost couldn't wait to get there. She absently picked the hole in the vinyl seat beside her tartan skirt clad thigh. Her knee-high socks were just reminders of her old school in Seattle—preferable uniform for the students there. She wasn't sure what her new school would be like, nor did her parents. They had been bizarrely sceptical about letting her enter a public system, claiming it would be utter parental negligence. Bella often heard about the types that attended public educational institutions. There were no prerequisites for entry so any old riff-raff could attend school there.

The thought of sharing her classes with an undesirable...

Bella didn't want to learn with a bunch of second-rate, hell-raisers, but she barely had a choice. She knew that her Father's pay had been reduced and that they no longer had enough money to pay tuition for a private college for their daughter and a public school would just have to suffice. It was only for one year, after all. But the beginning of school was still three months away so to be worrying about it now would surely sully Bella's enjoyment of her holidays.

Raising her head from the seats and looking back out the window, Bella realised the scenery had changed.

The streets were lined with people still; but they all had long hair, even the boys! They had scruffy facial hair and loose, baggy clothes. Some wore braids and had guitars slung over their backs. Crowds of people similar to these continued in throngs, strolling down the sidewalks in front of little businesses and shops.

"Hippies..." Charlie muttered under his breath, clearly displeased with their presence.

"Barely wash...look at that fella's hair!" he stated incredulously, eyeing a young man of about Bella's age with a long mane of blonde locks that looked greasy and unwashed.

"Bet he's unemployed, no doubt." He grumbled, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

There were long vans lining the streets, painted in a whirlwind of erratic colours, not at all like Daddy's, Bella thought curiously.

They sat in the back seats of their vehicles and chanted together in eerily calming melodies, some strumming indecipherable tunes on their instruments and laughing together lazily.

Charlie, none too happy about the new neighbourhood, slowed down to a halt at a set of traffic lights. Renee, sitting uneasily in her seat, began to fidget with her handkerchief then resumed a nervous straightening of her clothes and hat. She wore white, wrist length gloves; always the attire for going out. Bella felt lucky that she hadn't been forced to wear anything like that yet. That's not what all the kids her age were doing anyway. She would feel silly if she dressed as formally as her mother, yet she wouldn't be caught dead in a string-strapped camisole and a short skirt that stopped mid-thigh. She spotted a girl dressed exactly like that and quickly averted her eyes, embarrassed for herself and the girl that was sadly misguided into thinking that was appropriate.

Charlie tapped the wheel impatiently as Renee patted her peach coloured skirt and white cotton blouse and matching cardigan. Bella continued her silent survey of the area, still no more concerned about the city than before, if anything, she was more interested. It was vastly different from any place she'd been lately.

She supposed, but she'd never let her father know, that these 'hippies' couldn't be all that bad, the ones who didn't indulge in reckless drug use, of course. They can't all be unemployed slackers. Surely they were nice people anyway? Despite their lack of direction? Bella hoped so.

A ruckus broke Bella from her reverie.

"Fuck off! Pigs!" yelled a young man from over near a clothing boutique.

He was obviously being apprehended by the two policemen who had him in vice grips above the elbows on both arms. Judging by the look on his face, Bella discerned that he was trying to fight them off.

Excitement coursed through her and she leaned closer to the open window, watching the scene unfold while Charlie grew even more impatient with the light that would not turn green.

"GET OFF ME! I WILL NOT CO-OPERATE! VIOLENCE ONLY FUELS THE FIRES OF OPRESSION!" He screamed, struggling from their grasp.

He managed to squirm free from their meaty hands and sprint closer to the red Cadillac parked in the middle of the street. Bella, slightly fearful of this turn of events, watched the man run, his figure coming closer, his features sharpening into focus at closer range.

His bronze hair was not as long as the rest of the men around here, but it wasn't neatly cropped either, it was messy and unkempt—a quality in young boys that both Charlie and Renee found reprehensible—yet his face looked mischievous and playful, as if evading police was a good thing. His nose was long and his face was angular as Bella stared. It was then that he came too close. His hands found purchase on the metal door, slapping the side panel of the car as he tried hastily to open it. Bella shrieked and scooted across the seat as the buoyant stranger hopped in beside her.

"Hey, how are you folks today?" he asked conversationally, his striking green eyes falling upon Bella who was trembling but not quite as afraid, more shocked at this man's audacity.

"I'm Edward Cullen, and you are?" he held out a hand for Bella to shake while Charlie cursed something foul—a word God would be ashamed of—Renee squealed and Bella just stared, puzzled but not afraid anymore.

She willingly moved her hand forward to grasp his; his scent wafted through her nose. Peppermint, a sickly sweet smoke and a distinctly male smell.

"Pleasure?" she said, only subconsciously aware that she was making niceties with a possible car hijacking lunatic.

A sly grin stretched over his face but before he could go any further, the door was wrenched open and the odd silence that had settled over Bella's ears so that she could hear nothing but the stranger's words was gone.

The two officers hauled the illusive 'Edward' away from the Swan vehicle while another, out of breath policeman tried to calm Bella's parents down.

"Never in my twenty years...!" Charlie began an outraged rant while Renee trembled beside him, glancing periodically back at her daughter.

"Inappropriate, he could have touched my Isabella...!"

Bella listened vaguely to their apologies and retorts until she felt the car moving again. But Bella watched out of the back windshield; the unusual man she had just encountered was being dragged away to a police car, his hands pulled behind him uncomfortably.

Bella Swan slumped back into her seat once he was no longer visible, yet she thought about him much longer after that.

Edward Cullen watched the red Cadillac speed down the street and turn abruptly, out of sight but not out of mind. A pair of chocolate brown eyes burned into his retinas. He often found it quite amusing to stir the pot in society; the best ways to do that was to mingle with the prudes.

The young girl he had just introduced himself to was a class. A. Square; although it probably wasn't her fault—by the looks of her parents she had conformity and obedience nailed into her from the moment she could walk.

Hell, he wouldn't put it past people like them to start that kind of behaviour training while she was still in the womb.

This morning, Edward hadn't planned on getting arrested again for public nuisance—he was really only looking for his dealer. He was running low on weed and he needed more for the party season coming up.

Of course, a guy like Edward partied all year round; but it was Summer and as he'd just realised, there was new meat—new pools of innocence to corrupt.

With a hearty laugh, he gave up and let the 'pigs' drag him to the shiny cruiser parked out the front of a dingy cafe. The small clusters of his own 'people' crowded around to see what was going on. They chanted along together in disgust, jeering and throwing lewd comments at the cops as Edward was stuffed quite forcibly into the backseat behind the metal grating that separated the two halves of the vehicle. Mostly to keep felons at bay, but that didn't stop them from spitting. Edward laughed and nodded at them.

"FIGHT FOR FREEDOM!" he shouted but the window diminished the volume of his voice.

They cheered anyway.