Destiny

~3~

Destinee sat in her room at the desk, her laptop open and connected with the internet. Like she said earlier ago, she was doing research on the contest, which Jacob mentioned at the beach.

Flashback

"Hey Desti, I found something today."
"What is it Jake?"
"I came across a flyer for the first qualifying competition for the USA Annual Gymnastic contest."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And a few jury members are coming to Forks to do the first round. And guess what..."
"What?"
"They're coming to your school tomorrow!"
"No way!"

Flashback end

Destinee smiled at this memory. A few minutes later she found what she searched for. But Charlie then called for dinner.
"Desti, dinner is ready!"
The girl jumped up from her chair and ran downstairs. There, Bella already sat at the table, waiting for the food to be served and Charlie placed the plates with the food on the table. They both sat down and all three started to eat. There was an awkward silence for some time, before Charlie decided to speak up.
"Hey Desti. Did you find anything with your research?" he asked.
Immediately, Destinee's eyes started to sparkle from happiness. The other two saw that.
"Yes, I did. The USA Annual Gymnastic contest."
"I heard of it. How can you take part in it?"
"Jacob said, that a group of jury members will come to Forks tomorrow and they're going to visit our Highschool."
"Well then I guess you go to sleep early today if you wanna be prepared."
"Y-You mean... you allow me to do this?"
"Of course! You're very talented. It would be a shame if nobody could see it."
Destinee beamed happily while she finished eating. Then she jumped up and hugged her adoptive dad.
"Thanks, dad."
She looked to Bella.
"Goodnight, sister."
But Bella pretended to have food in her mouth and just nodded. She went upstairs and prepared herself to go to sleep early. Destinee changed into her nightclothes and jumped into her bed, falling asleep fast and with a happy smile on her face.

In the morning, she woke up early and immediately changed into a pair of dark blue jeans and a grayish blue shirt. Destinee packed her bag with pens, notebooks, a bottle with water, her keys and a top and sport pants. She grabbed the bag, a leather jacket and a pair of sneakers. When she got downstairs, Charlie was already making pancakes.
"Morning Charlie."
"Good morning, Desti. Are you excited?"
"Totally. I'm especially excited for the contest selection."
"Don't worry. You'll make it. Just believe in yourself. I always do."
"Thank you", she said, grabbed a pancake, gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked outside. She put her jacket on and swung her bag over her shoulder. It took a half hour for Destinee to walk to Forks High.

It was loud and heads turned when Bella parked and Destinee arrived at the same time. The sporty girl walked to her and got only an emotionless look. All eyes were on them as Bella climbed out of her truck, stepped in a puddle, resulting in soaking her sneakers, and got accompanied by Destinee. She walked towards school while Bella more or less slinked. Bella still had her iPod clutched in her hands. The two girls made her way through kids who stared openly. A few brave ones said hi and Destinee waved and smiled back. They were all talking about them. This was hell for Bella. They got to the office to get their schedules.
"Hey girls, you new here?" the secretary asked.
"Yeah, ehm. That's Bella and I'm Destinee."
"Swan?"
Destinee nodded. Then she saw a flyer for the contest that she wanted to take part in. The secretary saw the girl's smiling look.
"You want to compete there?"
Destinee jumped.
"Ehm... yeah, I do. I'm a bit nervous about that and I don't know if I'm good enough."
"Oh sweetie, just take your chance. You're going to be great. You also have your sister here who can be there for you."
Bella flinched at the word 'sister'. Only Destinee saw it from the corner of her eye. She nodded and thanked the secretary, before walking out after Bella. She then suddenly stopped.
"Hey, ehm... Bella? I know you probably don't want to... I mean, I think it's obvious that you don't like me very much. But I would really appreciate it if you could be there when I do this. You don't really have to but please consider it as a sister?"
Bella stopped and turned around, with an emotionless look.
"I don't know, but one thing: I'm not your sister."
She turned and Destinee sighed sadly before running after her. They wandered the walkways looking for room numbers. They were clearly lost. There were constant stares at Bella, the outsider and Destinee, the not wanted sister. It ended when a sweet, nerd-cute boy named Eric, appeared in their path.
"You're Destinee and Isabella Swan, the new girls. Hi. I'm Eric. The eyes and ears of this place. Anything you need. Tour guide, lunch date or shoulder to cry on."
Bella just looked at him as if she wanted to say 'Is he for real?'
"I'm kind of the 'suffer in silence' type", Bella said.
"Good headline for your feature... I'm on the paper, and you're news baby, front page."
"I... no, I'm not news... I'm, seriously, not at all...
"Whoa, chillax. No feature."
Bella sighed relieved.
"Well, if you really want one, you can take Destinee. She will, after all, be known when she does this contest thing", Bella told the boy.
"W-wait, you mean... the USA Annual Gymnastic contest?" Eric asked unbelievingly.
"Yeah, she does mean that", Destinee said.
"Well, there are rumors that the jury only let the best be in the next rounds..."
"Would you mind just pointing us toward Mr. Varner's class?" Bella asked.
He lead them away, enjoying the attentive stares, as Bella cringed from them.
"You've missed a lot of the semester, but I can hook you up, tutor, cliff notes, medical excuse"
"Oh well, you actually don't need to tutor me. I skipped two years"
Destinee ran ahead, leaving a stunned Eric and an emotionless Bella behind. She reached the gym lockers and changed into her top and sport pants. She patiently waited for Bella till she was ready and they went into the gym.