Disclaimer

 Twilight and all affiliated characters are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I do not own any of the aforementioned characters except Beth and the plot of this story (that is, should it stray from the original Twilight). This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official storyline. I am not in any way, shape, or form benefiting financially from the publishing of this story on this site and am very grateful for Mrs. Meyer's creation. Besides, if I did own Twilight, I'd have a nice house, with a view and a new pair of shoes, Gucci gang little-

Anywayyyyyyysssss....The gif is of Helen Miren who I imagine Grandma Helen looks like.

Beth had been dreading going back to school. And it wasn't because of the overeager boys that second-guessed every bit of attention any girl ever gave them. No, it wasn't Jessica Stanley and her inability to stop gossiping about the latest things that occurred at their small-town school, either. Rather, one particular person could prove to be an issue. Edward Cullen, or, Penny, as Beth had taken to calling him. After his rather dramatic reaction to her when she walked into class, his abrupt departure, and his less than stellar performance at the office with both Mrs. Cope and Bella in the parking lot- it was almost too easy to determine what type of person he was with the mysterious and broody vibe he had going on. And Beth was not interested in whatever he was planning to do today.

Would he jump up and declare most extravagantly that the new girls were utterly hideous and had no right being amongst him and his family? Or would he still be disgusted with her presence? To Beth, the opportunities were endless. And that's what she didn't like. He was one of those mysterious, bad boy types that strived to be as unpredictable as possible, and oh- had he achieved it.

Beth had paused in the lunchroom, her eyes drifting to an empty table before flickering to the usual where Lauren and Isabel were already seated. Drugging up her courage, she spun on her heel and headed straight for the table. She wanted to keep up the good week so far, and a nagging feeling in her gut told her she'd get anything but peace and contentment if she had continued on her original path.

"Beth?" Bella had called, spotting her as she and Angela made their way through the room. Beth hummed, biting into her sandwich, but not paying much attention to her twin. She was giving her a choice, to sit with her newfound friends or sit with her. Without a word and unfaltering in her loyalty, Bella walked over to her sister and plunked down into a chair with Angela on her right. If the bespectacled girl had a problem, she didn't say- choosing instead to jump back into her conversation with Bella about the upcoming spring dance that couldn't be more than a month and a half away.

Soon Jessica was faced with the same choice when she walked inside the cafeteria and with more than a little hesitation, made her way over to their table.

"What's up with that?" Mike inquired as he, Eric & Tyler finally made their way out of the messy lunch line. Tyler, ever the oblivious, looked over to where Mike was gesturing, his eyebrows raised in curiosity,

"Heck if I know." Before making his way to the usual spot. Lauren, sourfaced and glaring at Beth as though she'd eaten a lemon, perked up at their arrival and greeted them with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

"Thank god some of you have sense," The senior picked at her food. "Brunette one and two stole Jess and Ang already, it's a freaking miracle that you guys see that kind of manipulation happening."

"Manipulation?" Eric's lips molded the word, no sound coming from his throat as he contemplated the blonde's words. Seeing no such thing in the other's decision, he cast the girl a wary glance before sharing similar looks with Mike and Tyler. Lauren was probably going crazy.

"I don't think she's manipulating anyone," The baby-faced blonde boy declared quietly, chomping on a greasy fry.

Lauren's eyes rolled sky high, "Of course you don't, Michael."

Despite the coloring in his cheeks at her reply, he stopped chewing and responded, "Whatever Lauren. See you in Spanish." And with that rebuke, the young boy got up and carried his plate of unhealthy food towards the four girls.

Eric cleared his throat then, "I'm with him."

Leaving Tyler at the mercy of Lauren's ire, the young man whose cheeks were filled with bites of his hamburger, peeked up at the girl before he too was racing off without a word.

Lauren's fist slammed onto the table, startling Isabel who had been previously texting away on her phone with a smile- completely blinded to the world around her.

"What is your problem?"

Lauren's only response was to growl in frustration.

--------------------------------------------

To say Beth was surprised by the turn of events was an understatement. All she'd wanted to do was sit elsewhere for the day if only to get a break from Lauren and her obnoxious habits and backhanded compliments. She certainly hadn't expected the others to join her. But when no one else made a comment about it happening, she too decided it best to leave it alone and focused on a new member, Ben Cheney,-also in her Bio class- who had come to sit next to Angela to ask about their study schedule. Apparently, Angela was a tutor.

"So, is Wednesday good?" The shy boy inquired, hands fiddling nervously with his own spectacles. A faint speckle of red rose up into his cheeks as Angela turned her attention to him.

"Oh yea, definitely. My place again?"

"Onl-Only if you're comfortable..?" He stuttered adorably.

Angela laughed then, "Ben, I wouldn't have suggested if it wasn't okay." And then proceeded to bop him on his nose.

His hand reached up to cup the back of his neck, "Right! Right.." He glanced down at his lunch, quickly shoveling a bite of his burrito into his mouth to avoid making a bigger fool of himself. Meanwhile, Beth blinked from her position on his right. It was as clear as day that the two had feelings for one another.

And so when lunch had finished and Beth, Mike, and Ben were walking to Bio together, the former had waited until the blonde had become distracted by the numerous people calling out to him to talk with Ben.

"So, you and Angie?"

He started, eyes wide as her words registered with him. "WH-what?"

"I mean, it's pretty obvious that you like her," Beth continued, ignoring his flabbergasted expression.

"What do you mean?" He started and moved closer to her to speak in a lower tone. If word got out that Ben Cheney liked Angela Weber, the whole town would know about it by supper time thanks to Forks' unusually excellent rumor mill. And if Angela didn't already know, she would by the end of the next period, "Do you think-?"

"OH!" Beth shook her head, "I don't think so. It's not THAT obvious. I just knew what to look for, ya know?"

"Oh," Ben deflated, "Please don't tell her, Beth."

"Chill, Ben." Beth assured the teenager, "Your secret is safe with me. I'll carry it to the grave."

Ben watched her for a moment, searching for any sign of deceit in her eyes before deciding that she was in fact, trustworthy.

"But you should definitely tell her!" She encouraged, "Life's too short to hold your feelings back."

Beth smiled, satisfied, before walking inside, leaving a bemused Ben Cheney at the doorway. The next sight she was greeted with both made her happy and frustrated at the same time.

Her desk was empty. And that meant her lab partner wasn't here.

And that she'd have to do this lab alone.

As it turned out, it wasn't just Tuesday he was absent for. In fact, Edward Cullen had disappeared for the rest of the week. Beth had seen his family around, they were hard to miss, with looking like they did, but nobody commented on his absence or noted it with any real concern. And neither did Beth. The next week that passed was utter bliss.

That bliss continued on Friday when the girls had driven over to their grandparents for dinner. It had become somewhat a tradition now, to go over for dinner every Friday night, whether or not Charlie was with them. Mostly, it was just to make sure that their grandparents were okay. They were already in their late seventies and early sixties and it was the least they could do while Charlie was away for work- like this Friday.

Though, that evening, it was a bit of a surprise when he showed up just when they had been serving their own food.

"Good evening," Charlie greeted, taking off his coat and vest and ensuring he hung up his gun before making his way over to the table. A round of pleasantly surprised greetings went up as Charlie came and bestowed a kiss on his daughters and mother's head.

"I thought you said you wouldn't be able to make it?" Grandma Helen inquired curiously, hand on her hip as she held the wooden serving spoon aloft.

"Yeah, but I finally finished the report for the Mason County case so I decided to head home early," Charlie explained as he fetched another placemat.

"How'd that go?" Grandpa Goff asked then, fork paused half-way to his mouth.

"Ah," The chief began hesitantly, tossing a look towards his daughters that had paused in their tasks to listen in as well. Heck, even Grandma Helen stopped shoveling rice onto his plate. "Case is cold. There were no obvious signs of struggle but forensics found several bite marks all over the body. Yesterday we heard the results of a DNA test. There's no wolf or cougar saliva, which was our first guess. But now, we're basically working with nothing."

"Hmm, bitemarks." That was all Grandpa Goff commented, eyebrows furrowed as his food finally touched his tongue. And then a sharp smack on his shoulder broke his thoughts. "OW!"

"Grace first, Geoffrey! You know that."

"Moving onto lighter topics," Was what Grandma Helen started off with some minutes later, "How was school this week? Make any new friends?"

"Yea, some of the kids are pretty cool," Bella mentioned, "They were all very welcoming."

Beth snorted on her left, "That's an understatement. The guys are all over Bella." To which she received a swift kick to her shin. She groaned in pain, wincing as Charlie tensed from across the table.

"Boys?" Their grandma perked up, "Bella, you fox. You just got here!"

"I-it's not-" Bella blushed,

"Oh, don't be shy dear, you're bound to like one of them soon anyway. No need to be ashamed of your feelings."

"I'm not," Bella muttered quietly. "Well, Beth is lab partners with Edward Cullen," she slipped into the conversation. Beth choked on her peas, frantically reaching for her water as the food remained lodged in her throat.

"Oh?"

"Edward Cullen? That'd be one of Dr. Cullen's kids, right?" asked the male patriarch.

"Yeah, good people. Good family," Charlie commented, still tense from the topic. He was very uncomfortable, and it showed in the way his shoulders hunched up close. His eyebrows peaked as his eyes searched both his daughters for any reaction. It clearly pained him to talk about this. For all they knew, he still considered them to be babies so any thought of them becoming ... intimate with one of the boys in town would certainly put him on edge.

"In any case, Elizabeth, just be safe," Said Helen.

"What?" The technical centenarian's mouth dropped in horror. If it was even possible, Charlie tensed even further, then and turned an odd shade of green.

"It's just necessary in case you find yourself in love with them. I know how teenagers are when they've barely left puberty. Hormones fly just as quick as butterflies."

"I won't!" Beth declared, "Nobody here interests me, at all."

"Well," Grandma Helen began, drinking some water, "the same goes for you too Bella." And proceeded to ignore the other twins stuttered protests.

"Nah, they wouldn't want to give their old man a heart attack," Grandpa Geoff replied instead, slapping a heavy hand onto his son's still tense shoulder. "Now, enough of this talk, I don't want to lose my dinner before I've even had all of it."

Grandma Helen only rolled her eyes at her husband with fond exasperation.

So yes, Beth had to admit that the week had been utter bliss.

Shame it couldn't be said about the next, though...