Anna Begins [Paul Lahote]

Chapter One

Anna

I'd always liked the quiet, rainy town of Forks. It was the perfect place for my grandparents to spend their retirement, and visiting every Christmas was basically a winter wonderland. So moving there a couple of months after Grandma died to be close to Grandpa wasn't exactly a hardship.

I mean, switching schools more than halfway through my senior year sucked. Transferring and making sure all my credits ended up in order was a bit stressful. But aside from that, it wasn't like I was teeming with friends that would miss me. I'd simply go from being a loner in Colorado to being a loner in Washington.

My younger brother Alex wasn't exactly thrilled at the move, since he did have friends who he'd miss, but was trying to be as positive as possible as we carted all our belongings into our new apartment. "At least there's actually room for your bookshelves here, Annie," he said to me as he set another box full of books on the floor of my room. He was right—our last apartment had been a little more than half the size of this one, and the wall space in my room was so scarce I'd had to stack my books in my closet in lieu of putting up my two tall bookshelves.

"I'm assuming that means you're volunteering to put them together for me?" I asked teasingly.

Alex smiled. "Only if you organize all the chords and shit in my room after I hook up my TV."

I pretended to consider it for a moment; both he and I knew I'd say yes, just like it wasn't actually a question of whether or not he'd help me with my shelves. "I guess I can do that. You know, if I'm not too busy."

He laughed. "Try to work me into your schedule." Then he left the room to go grab more boxes from the moving truck.

As I followed the direction he went, my mom called me into her new bedroom. I veered to the right and into the room she'd be sharing with Dad. The mattress and box-spring were leaned against the far wall, boxes all over the rest of the floor. Mom was going through them, trying to get something akin to organized. She looked up when I entered the room. "Annie, baby, can you go get something for us to eat? It's such a small town, I'm sure there's something within walking distance." Our little car was still packed to the brim—we were focusing on emptying the moving truck first so we didn't have to rent that out for another full day.

"Sure," I said, glad for the excuse to take a break from carrying and sorting boxes. "Any preferences?"

Mom shook her head, digging some money out of her pocket and walking it over to me. "Whatever you can find should be alright. I'm sure your brother and father are hungry enough to eat a horse by this point." She smiled, nudging me a little. "And you know you need to eat something."

My mother was terribly sensitive to the fact that I wasn't a big eater. Not that I didn't enjoy food—I just didn't have an especially hardy appetite. Which sometimes led to me forgetting to eat. Which in turn worried Mom, causing her to keep a mind to my eating habits on a regular basis. I'd decided a while ago not to let it bother me; it wasn't like I didn't want to eat. Getting reminders to do so wasn't the worst thing that could happen.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm actually hungry." And that was the truth—moving was hard work. "I'll be back soon."

On my way out of the building, I passed a pretty girl with wavy hair. I was all prepared to keep my head down and maintain zero eye contact, but before I could get to the stairs she called, "Hey! Excuse me?" Her voice was kind but insistent. I couldn't ignore it without seeming rude.

So I paused in my tracks and half turned to face her. "Yes?"

She smiled, stepping closer to me with her hand extended. "I'm new here, so I haven't had a chance to meet all the neighbors just yet. I'm Felicity."