Disclaimer: None of these Twilight characters are mine, unfortunately. They are all owned by the unbelievably talented Stephanie Meyer.
Chapter 1: Insomnia
Safely away from my parents, I hid under the covers reading the newest selection from my mother's bookshelf. With flashlight in hand, I curiously flipped through each page, skimming over words I didn't understand and sighing contently when I finished the rest of the text I'd been reading for the past three nights. I could hear my mother and father next door attempting to be quiet with whatever it was they were doing in there. I had been jealous as a small child that I too couldn't stay awake as long as I wanted to. However, after a failed attempt at trying to stay awake for three nights straight I gave in and let sleep overcome my tired eyes.
"Renesmee!" My father's voice called from down the hall.
"Damn it!" I swore silently, crawling under the warm covers of my bed. The fact that my father could listen into my thoughts never let me get away with anything, especially staying up way past my ten o clock bed time to read.
"Watch your mouth!" my mother called out and I stifled a laugh.
It had never been easy living in a house full of vampires, especially only being half vampire. My grandparents, uncles and aunts, and my parents always made for an interesting crowd and then of course there was Jacob. I was the object of his affection ever since childhood, of course, that was only a few short years ago. I grew at an incredible rate, I had the body of a fifteen year old, but I was really only about 7 years old, this was one of the reasons my parents refused to let me go to school. They didn't think it would be appropriate trying to explain to my friends why I could only live in one school about six months or so without moving somewhere else. My body would look entirely full grown in just a few more months. Socially, it had always been really difficult for me to try and fit in. I had attempted to make friends in the few times my parents had let me join extracurricular activities, but in Forks, Washington there wasn't exactly a lot to do. We'd moved around some in the past few years, going back and forth between parts of Canada and Oregon, but my mother and father had missed their small cottage outside my grandparents house too much, and our entire Cullen family had moved back this way.
I sighed letting my eyes rest, thinking of what I would do the following day. I had three hours of lessons with my grandfather, Carlisle. Every day we would learn mathematics, sciences, English, and he'd even divulge into medicine with me. I'd wanted to be just like him from the time I was a little girl. My parents of course, had been completely in favor of me becoming a doctor, but they knew that I would never be able to go to medical school until I'd stopped growing. It was sometimes a huge pain being the daughter of two vampires. I sat up in bed, not being able to sleep and walked out into the kitchen. There was a small candle flickering light onto the dining room table, that I seemed to be the only one to use. The cupboards were stocked with food, that always seemed to go bad before I had time to eat it. My mother, Bella, had finally realized just to buy non perishable foods, but I got really sick of peanut butter after a while. I glanced through the cupboards trying to find something appetizing, and just decided against it, sitting at the table. I looked up, hearing the sounds of my mother's footsteps approaching me. I smiled at her, her body flowing elegantly in her purple night dress. She came around the table, wrapping her cool hands around my neck, and kissing my bronze colored curls. She rested her hands on my shoulders,
"What are you doing up so late?" She laughed, as I looked up at her and winked.
"Can't sleep I suppose." I cocked my head, waiting for her to take a seat next to me. She carefully pulled one of the cherry colored chairs out to take a seat next to me. I reached my hand out to touch her cheek, it was my special way of communicating. It was just so much easier than speaking sometimes, especially in times like this when the words just wouldn't come out right. Her soft golden eyes warmed at my touch, but a frown appeared on her face when I showed her what was going through my mind. She opened her mouth to speak but I continued to let more images flow into her head; images of Jacob, ones of us when I was younger, me now, and of course the fear that he would soon fall in love with me. I pulled away, interrupting my own thoughts, my mother's hand still holding onto my own.
"Bella?" My father came out of the bedroom, his jeans and hair both tousled. I smiled and got up to go wrap my arms around him. I loved both my parents equally, but something about my father's presence always calmed me. He leaned down and kissed my head.
"Hi Dad" I reached my hand up, pressing it to his cold cheek and a smile pulling at the creases of his eyes.
"I love you too" He said reading my thoughts. I pulled away going back to sit at the table. He followed suit and took a seat at the head of the table, next to my mother. I crossed my hands on top of the table, picking off the chipped nail polish that was starting to come off.
"So, what's this about Jacob." My Father prodded me; he always liked it when I spoke instead of just letting him read my mind. I rolled my eyes,
"I don't know, I mean. I feel as though I don't have a choice, you know? Like, this was just all set in stone and I don't get a choice in any of it. My opinion just doesn't matter!" I said a bit too frantically. My mother's eyes widened, we hadn't brought up the imprinting in a long time, I was afraid to tell them that I didn't really want to fall in love with Jacob.
"I just don't want to be with a werewolf Dad" I said, color filling my cheeks at embarrassment.
"Renesmee, you love Jacob." My mother brought up.
"He's like a brother Mom! He always has been." I sighed resting my head on my arm. My parents were silent for a few moments, pondering each other thoughts. I tried to shut my father out of my head, it wasn't fair that I didn't get any privacy. I jumped as a knock slammed on the door.
"Who could that be at this hour?" My mother said, obviously still not aware of the fact that her entire family, except for me, slept. My father stood up going to the door, opening it slowly,
"Aunt Alice!" I ran into the arms of my favorite Aunt, who looked more like my sister that my aunt. She kissed my cheek before skipping into the house, a smile across her face.
"I have good news Edward!" She said, coming over to hug and kiss her brother and sister in law. I shut the door, walking back over to my family, awaiting to hear what vision Alice probably just had.
"Well, I happened to just be watching over Jasper, and something sort of creeped into the future. Now… it's not certain, because obviously the two of you still haven't made up your mind-" She stopped mid-sentence to look at me.
"You're going to go to school!" She spat out with a laugh, trying to contain herself.
"What?!" I yelled in excitement, looking at both of my parents who seemed more to resemble deer in headlights.
"Alice, we hadn't decided that yet!" My father groaned, as he put a hand to his forehead, resting it there.
"I know Edward, but I think it's a great idea! And Nessie deserves some fun once in a while!" Alice sounded more like a child than I did, whining the way she did, but I couldn't seem to get the grin to disappear from my face.
"We thought it might be good for you to go to a private school a few towns over. You need to make some friends, and we figured the education would be much better there for you." My mother pulled pamphlets out of a kitchen drawer. I wasn't sure when she had put them there, I was sure I went through those cupboards earlier that day.
"Look, Nessie, you need sleep. But I will be happy to discuss this option-" Edward glared at Alice"with you later on."
I leapt with joy and a little giggle, hugging Alice.
"Thank you!" I whispered excitedly and ran off to my bedroom, trying to contain myself. I figured sleeping would make the night go by faster, and the prospect of going to school faster as well.