It had been one hundred and six years since I was born to a loving couple by the name of Elizabeth and Edward Masen only to be joined by a little brother two years later; eighty seven years since we died and both I and my brother were reborn to family, which would grow large through the years thanks to our second father, Carlisle Cullen; seventy years since I learned to live again. Now, with the times having changed a lot over these hundred and six years, it was time for another change which would either destroy us as a family or make us stronger.
oOo
"It's eight hours, that means you'll have eight hours to form a plan to beat him," I groaned back to my wonderful husband of 66 years, which was also being slightly annoying right now since Jasper beat him at wrestling.
"Your right," He sighed and leaned in for a kiss which I gladly gave him.
Shaking my head slightly, I turned back to pick out an outfit for yet another day in hell. Actually, not hell, I would imagine that hell would have something going on and wouldn't be mind-numbingly boring. Pulling off the shirt and pants that I had worn throughout the night, I changed into a grey, simple, button up shirt dress.
"The new girl is coming today," Alice announced to the whole house and I glanced over to Emmett in a bit of confusion as I pulled on a pair of navy tights.
"Why would we care?" Rose shot back from her room below, which all of us were thinking though we wouldn't exactly say it. I mean the whole school had been buzzing about Isabella Swan transferring here from Phoenix to live with her father, because what else was everyone going to talk about in Forks Washington after talking about us became old news a year ago, but it wasn't really a priority to us.
"It's exciting," Alice responded and giving another shake of the head I grabbed a thin, dark silver belt and matching heeled oxfords.
"What is so exciting about a human?" Rose scoffed but Alice didn't reply this time, all she did was leave the knowing silence in the air that told us all she knew something that we didn't. There wasn't even the small snicker from Edward next door that usually accompanied it, meaning that she was keeping a secret even from him.
"Kids, hurry up or you're going to be late," Esme called from her study. Giving an eye roll, because it wasn't like being late was a horrible thing, I zipped into a supposedly shared bathroom, but Edward and Emmett basically left it for me and quickly styled my curled bronze hair up into a ponytail. Moving back out to my jewelry box, I pulled a few face framing strands loose so it had that stylishly messy feeling before putting on my signature pieces of jewelry; my Cullen locket, my mother's garnet and diamond flower ring, and my first engagement ring from Emmett.
"Do you not like the other one?" Emmett questioned as he watched me from the bed and I looked to the square cut 2.5 carat ring which was more modern than the 0.15 carat ring I now had on, though he had done perfect with the gift for out 50th wedding anniversary because it still had that vintage feeling to it.
"No, I love it," I smiled and walked over to him. I had liked everything about that day actually, down to the five month long trip to Tuscany where my other present was in the shape of our own private villa. "It's just this is the first one you gave me," I explained and giving his own careless smirk, he reached forward and grabbed the back of my thighs, pulling me into his lap. Shifting around, I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and leaned in teasingly placing my lips just in front his but not enough to touch.
Playing back he got a daring smirk and slipped his hands down over my dress to my legs and pressed his fingers against them, threatening to shred the tights which I had just bought with Alice, Rosalie, Esme on out recent shopping trip in Seattle over the Christmas break. "Don't you dare," I whispered, narrowing my eyes to him.
"Don't either of you," Edward spoke and pushed open the door, causing us both to look to him. "We have to go." Turning back to Emmett with a small grin, I pressed a soft kiss to his lips before standing back up and all three of us moved down the steps to the second floor where Rosalie, Noah, Alice, and Jasper joined our line. It was almost like a line of inmates heading back towards lock up after two days of pure freedom.
"Have fun," Esme called as we entered the garage and split up into the two most inconspicuous cars we had: Edwards S60R and my Cobalt SS. Sliding into the front with Rosalie while Emmett and Noah settled into the back I set off first down the road with Edward behind.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot I began my daily count down, the only slight bit of the day that I liked was art second period. It gave me the small break from the horror of Calculus I had been submitted to, but then I was stuck with more monotony for two more periods in the shape of French, then chemistry. Lunch provided a little break once again, though not much before I headed off to gym and finally my day was ended with English. At least I got to spend my whole amount of tedium with someone that understood: Calculus being with Edward, French being with Rosalie, Chemistry with Jasper, Gym with Emmett, and English with Noah, because there were five of us playing at seniors and Edward just felt the need to place into algebra 2 freshman year.
Today seemed especially worse though as I settled down beside Jasper in Chemistry. It had obviously been far too long since we hunted and I was only noticing it now as looked to his unmoving state. I put myself on edge as the class started, ready to flip into that compelling mode should I need to because a whispered, imbedded thought wasn't going to make him turn the other way now should it happen. I would need to make him my puppet and I could tell that he was reading that off my emotions as he attempted to loosen up from the coiled up position.
As we set up for our experiment to do with density of metals, I leaned forward and popped the window in front of our station open slightly so that a steady flow of fresh air could come in but not enough for others to notice and watched him loosen up a little more.
Soon enough the bell rang and we were set free for lunch. Meeting up with Alice at the doors, the three of us filed through the line to get our props before moving towards the table we had claimed three years ago and not a single person dared to sit at now. It was perfect in reason, being the furthest from the crowd, with a constant stream of air from either the air conditioning or heat, but every once in a while it could be a bad thing as it was today.
We had almost made it through, I had arranged my premade salad into a piece of artwork which now looked like a garden scene, complete with a carrot and broccoli person, a lettuce tree, rolling hills and a dressing lake, and was on to counting the holes in the ceiling tiles as I sat with my legs propped up on Emmett's. Just then it washed over our table, the scent that made my mouth fill with venom and I tensed slightly not for myself but because I was acutely aware of how Jasper was feeling from Chemistry. And, while I kept my eyes on the 2,522nd dot in the ceiling tile, I shifted my focus to Edward who would give me my first clue should Jasper give in.
Instead he gave a kick to Jasper's chair and the tension at the table immediately broke. "Sorry," He muttered shamefully and Edward gave a shrug.
"You weren't going to do anything," Alice murmured. "I could see that." I ignored the slight twitch in the corner of Edward's mouth, hiding the lie and just continued counting. "It helps a little if you think of them as people," Alice suggested as she talked about the unknowing girl a few steps away. "Her name is Whitney. She has a baby sister she adores. Her mother invited Esme to that garden party, do you remember?"
"I know who she is," Jasper replied curtly, the tone ending the conversation as Alice gave a knowing sigh and stood to leave.
"Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullen clan," Edward murmured and curiously I glance out of the corner of my eye to the table with the annoying girl and then the new face which had caused a sort of disturbance in the boring school: Isabella, or Bella as people were now calling her. Flipping my eyes to my tray, I grabbed the unpeeled orange and started rolling it around as I tuned into the conversation.
"They are…very nice-looking," Bella spoke.
"Yes!" Jessica answered with a giggle. "They're all together though," she said in criticism, though I'm sure if her crush on Edward had panned out she wouldn't have minded. Next to me, I heard the small, almost inaudible, scoffing laugh from my brother as I continued listening. "Noah and Rosalie, Emmett and Genevieve, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together.
"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella asked. "They all don't look related…"
"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young in his twenties or early thirties. They're all siblings, the Cullen's were adopted, and then the Hales and Masens are foster children."
"They look a little old for foster children," Bella spoke.
"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie—the blondes—are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that. And the Masens were taken in when they twelve and thirteen." Jessica retold our very complex story of the young couple that continued to take in siblings that no one else wanted, first in the two twin boys and their younger sister, then of Esme's niece and nephew whose parents had died, and finally Edward and I who had been shuffled around all our lives in Alaska before the wonderful couple took us in.
"That's really kind of nice—for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything," Bella reasoned kindly.
"I guess so," Jessica relented reluctantly. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," She added and I pursed my lips slightly in annoyance of the attention seeking girl.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" Bella asked on to receive a scoffed out 'no' from Jessica.
"They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska," She filled in.
"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" Bella asked and I glanced to Edward to see him staring at her in frustration. Furrowing my brow in confusion I listened to Jessica's response which continued to hold the anger of her unrequited crush. Hitting the toe of my shoe on his leg, I mentally told him to stop staring and he turned away with a small smile to Jessica's comment but I could tell there was something else which earned me a small quick glance before I continued my counting but noticed him look back over to her.
"Shall we?" Rosalie murmured after another pause and I turned back to the table, dropping my feet from Emmett's lap.
"So, is the new one afraid of us yet?" Emmett asked but only received a shrug as we all stood up. Feeling that he didn't exactly want to talk about it, I just gave a look to the shrugged response and weird behavior as we all started out.
Veering off into separate directions, Emmett and I headed towards the gym where I was going to have to try and keep him from popping the volleyball ball in frustration. After changing into the wonderful shorts and t-shirt combo, I walked back into the gym waiting for him to come in from changing as well, but my thoughts drifted over to how weird Edward had acted during those few moments at lunch.
Suffering in the back of the line of the volleyball group, I put almost no effort into moving, same as Emmett but continued putting our team to the top of the 'fun' class competition, even while missing shots here and there for appearance. It was the only time that they had actually enjoyed being around us. Then with that over I changed back into my clothing, said goodbye to Emmett and headed off to English with Noah, both of us sitting in the back and doing little else but counting down until the last bell, though once again I felt like something was wrong. Actually I knew something was off with Edward, it was a nagging feeling that grew even as I walked out to the car with Noah and he wasn't there with Emmett.
"Here," I tossed the keys to Rosalie, "I'm gonna ride back with them."
With a shrug she slid into the driver's seat, followed by Noah going into the passenger's seat while Emmett gave me a look. "I'll see you at home," I gave him a small smile and nod. Giving a small frown, he nodded, knowing that something was up, but also knowing me so he slid into the back seat and they took off towards home.
Both Alice and Jasper slid into the back seat, waiting, but I stood outside and watched as he raced out of the school and into the parking lot, like he was running from it and as we both slid into the car I was sure of it.
"Edward?" Alice questioned in alarm as I just looked at him for a minute while he tried to take in deep, controlled breaths.
"What is going on?" I inquired softly, but he didn't answer and just threw the car in reverse. He tore out of the parking lot and onto the road, hitting seventy. Turning in my seat, I looked to Alice, wanting an answer right now and she scanned the future with both Jasper and my eyes on here.
"You're leaving?" She suddenly whispered coming back to the present and a little hurt, but mostly worried I looked back to my brother.
"Am I?" He hissed, trying to control something which I still didn't understand.
"Why?" I demanded, if he needed to leave then alright. He could leave but I wasn't about to be left without an explanation.
"Oh," Alice spoke from behind me and I looked back to see surprise on her pixie-like face. "Oh…" she repeated sadly and I looked back to Edward as the vision filtered directly into his mind and you could see the pressure building.
"Stop!" He groaned, reaching his limit, his fingers curling a little tighter around the steering wheel.
"Sorry," She whispered in return with wide eyes which then went blank again as the vision shifted. "I'll miss you. No matter how short a time you're gone." Anxiously I looked between them as my frustration built. "Drop us here," Alice offered as he approached the long drive that went up to our house. "You should tell Carlisle yourself." He gave a nod and forced the car into a squealing stop, and Jasper slid out.
"You will do the right thing," Alice murmured as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him, too."
All of a sudden it all made sense as she slid out having given enough of a clue and I leaned over and gave him a one armed hug. "Remember who you are," I whispered just above a breath and felt him return the hug before pulling back with a pointed look. With that I slid out to join Alice and Jasper and took off into the woods with the sound of the Volvo tearing back towards Forks.