Chapter 2- The Bet (RPOV)
The items we had left for the movers arrived in Forks two days after we did. With help from my uncles, Jake was able to get our trunks full of clothing out to the cottage. I spent the rest of that afternoon organizing my closet. When it came to clothes, I took after my Aunt Alice. I absolutely loved fashion and had to have my closet a certain way. The family had a major tradition when it came to relocating. Once everything was unpacked, we spent a few days doing some family bonding. When I finished I made my way up to the main house, knowing I would be there for the next couple days. We spent two days playing board games, video games and watching movies. The credits had just started rolling on Gone with the Wind, one of my favorites movies, when Grandpa cleared his throat. He asked us all to move into the dining room to discuss the back story we would use.
The day after we had arrived, Grandpa enrolled us at the high school on his way to the hospital. We wanted to have the opportunity to stay in Forks as long as we could, that meant starting as young as possible. Uncle Em, Aunt Rose, Uncle Jazz, and I were starting as sophomores; this made Aunt Alice, Mom, Dad, and Jake freshman.
"Ok, same as usual. Edward and Nessie, who will go by Vanessa, are my niece and nephew. My brother and his wife were lost at sea during a second honeymoon when you were both very young. Jasper and Rosalie are twins, the children of my college roommate, Richard Hale. He and his wife were killed in a car accident and entrusted your care to Esme and myself. Emmett and Bella are brother and sister; we adopted them a few years ago after Bella was brought in to the hospital after being beaten by your foster father. Esme and I adopted you to get you out of that home. I know it is time to switch to Swan for your family name, but Bella we can't have anyone think that you are in anyway related to Charlie. Even though it has been a long time, there will still be people that remember the old police chief. Guess that makes you both McCarty again. Finally, Alice and Jacob had originally been adopted by the Blacks, I was working in the hospital when the entire Black family was brought in after a house fire, and you two were the only two to survive. Esme wouldn't let me send you back to foster care after having a stable home for many years, we adopted you right after you were discharged. We just moved to Forks from Prince Rupert, British Colombia where we lived for the past 10 years. Any questions?" Grandpa Carlisle ran down the list of our parts so efficiently, and we had done this so many times, that none of us had any questions, so we all shook our heads no. "Well I think in all our excitement we forgot that today is a very important day." Grandpa turned to me then. "Happy Birthday Renesmee!" Oh my god I had completely forgotten that it was my birthday, and unfortunately I realized the rest of my family had too. Even my husband hadn't remembered I was crushed.
"Ness, we didn't forget," I knew dad was just trying to make me feel better. Stop sugar-coating it Dad, its ok. I mean I'm seventy-five years old; I don't need a big celebration or presents. "Ness, do you really think this family would forget a chance that would allow us to shower you with presents. Stop your mopping. Everything was hidden in Alice's room. Jasper and she will be back with your presents in a moment. We even baked you a cake." They baked, this ought to be good. My aunt and uncle walked into the room then. Uncle Jazz was carrying a pile of boxes all wrapped in silver paper, while Aunt Alice had a small cake with two candles burning on top of it. One was shaped like a seven, the other was a five. My family started singing to me then. I spent the next couple of hours opening presents. Aunt Rose and Uncle Em gave me a voucher to enhance my Lexus; they would buy all the parts and do all the work. My car would be able to go even faster, this was great. Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper's present were three pea coats. They were all a very dark gray, but they each had their own distinct detailing and a matching scarf set. I realized that the one was much too big for me. Aunt Alice admitted that that one was for Jake. When they were in Forks each couple wore like colored pea coats. Grandma handed me a very tiny box. At first I thought it was jewelry, but the only jewelry I ever wore was my wedding ring, the bracelet Jake had given me when I was only a few days old, and the small post earrings with the family crest on them. When I opened the box, there were two plane tickets to Rio de Janiero and a small house key. The tickets were for next summer. Their gift was a month at Grandma's Isle in the Atlantic. Mom and Dad bought me a new Martin's acoustic guitar, and an electric keyboard to have a piano in my room at the cottage. The final present was from Jake. I opened it to find a new woven bracelet with a small wooden heart on it. Carved inside the heart was a wolf. It was beautiful, and the most thoughtful present ever. A wolf did occupy every space in my heart and now the world would know it. With my presents all open, and the cake already eaten by Jake and I, my family started dispersing.
Jake and I slowly made our way back to the cottage. The rest of our family had decided to go hunting, wanting as little temptation from the student body as possible. This meant Jake and I would have the cottage to ourselves for the night. We hadn't been alone since we moved back to Forks. Every time we had even tried to spend time as husband in wife in our bedroom, someone had interrupted. I knew that was my father's fault. Even though he had agreed to let us be, he was finding a way to keep us from being intimate. This had me quickening my pace, because there was no one to interrupt tonight. Jake caught my sudden burst of energy.
"Ness, what's the rush? It's nice out tonight, let's take our time." Was he serious? He hadn't realized it yet. Oh, this was wonderful.
"Jake?" He stopped and looked at me. I touched his cheek and showed him why I had started moving faster. I showed him the empty cottage, the fact that our whole family was hundreds of miles away hunting in the mountains. Before I knew what was happening he had picked me up, threw me over his shoulder fireman-style, and ran for the cottage at top speed. He finally figured it out.
As we neared the door, he slowed down, pulled me from his shoulder and cradled me in his arms. His mouth crushed mine in a deeply passionate kiss. All of the sexual frustration of the past few days was immediately released. When I felt my side hit the door I reached blindly behind me searching for the handle. Without ever letting my lips leave Jake's I got the door open and we stumbled into the living room. Jake set me down just inside the doorway and closed the door by pushing me up against it, pinning me there. His hands started to roam as he continued his assault on my mouth. I knew we weren't going to make it much further than the floor of the room we were currently in.
With my back against the door, my hands started roaming as well. I needed to feel his skin. I grabbed the hem of the shirt he was wearing and pulled it over his head, this was the first time our lips had parted since we reached the cottage. I took that opportunity to attack his neck, leaving a line of kisses from his ear to his shoulder, while my hands raked down the muscles of his chest and stomach. I felt the muscles clench as I reached the waistband of his pants. The fabric was stretched to its limit by his massive erection. I wasted no time with the button and zipper, just grabbed the pants with both hands and shredded them. Jake followed my lead and in only a couple of seconds the remnants of my shirt and pants joined Jake's.
He lifted me off the floor then, letting my legs wrap around his waist. Our mouths met in another hungry kiss. I had a feeling he was going to try and make it to our bedroom, but I didn't want to wait that long. I touched Jake's chest and showed him that I was getting impatient. He stopped moving, kneeling on the plush carpet in front of the small fireplace. He leaned over me staring into my eyes. The desire that I saw in them was a mirror image of my own feelings.
Even though we were both hungry for a release, we remained tender and slow in our lovemaking. Long after both of us had reached our climax, we laid cuddled in front of the fireplace. From the warmth of the fire on one side of me, and Jake's heated body on the other I was being lulled into sleep. I felt him lift me off the floor and head for our bedroom, picking up the scraps of fabric that had been our clothes in the process. He set me on the bed and laid down next to me, pulling me close to him and tucking the covers over both of us. I heard him whisper I love you before sleep finally over took me.
I was awoken the next morning by a loud knocking on the door.
Ness, Jake, get up. I have to have access to your closet so I can pick out your outfits for the first day of school!" Aunt Alice was yelling through the door. My pixie of an aunt could be annoying sometimes! Now I understood Dad's constant teasing of her about how someone so small could be so irritating.
"Alice, we are capable of dressing ourselves." Jake did not enjoy being a Ken doll for Aunt Alice to dress. Since he had answered her, she knew we were awake and walked into the room. Jake grabbed the sheets and pulled them closer around us.
"Jake, you act like I haven't seen you two naked before. Remember, my visions of the two of you have improved over the years. And I know you are capable of dressing yourselves, but I am the stylist of the house and I want us all looking good today. You know first impressions are the only impressions that matter. No one else gave me a problem. Please be nice you two, you know this is the one thing that makes me happy. Please!" She started whining then, and we knew we had lost.
"Fine," we both told her with as much disdain as we could. She just smiled and headed to our closet. In a matter of minutes, she had an outfit laid out for both of us. She left a thin necklace chain next to my outfit, all of the women in my family would be wearing it until we re-married our husbands again; the necklace was to hold both of our wedding rings.
"Thanks kiddies, see you at the garage in 45 minutes." With that, she was gone. We quickly showered, dressed and headed to the main house to leave for school. We decided to take the most inconspicuous vehicles we owned. This meant Mom's Curve, Dad's Volvo, and Jake's MAXXcab. Aunt Alice went with Mom; Uncle Jasper and I were riding with Dad; Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rose drove with Jake which surprised everyone. Aunt Rose was the one family member that still couldn't stand Jake. I found out from Dad once we were on our way to school that Uncle Em had wanted the space the truck offered, so he had bribed Aunt Rose into going in the truck with him. I had no desire to know what that bribe was. We arrived at school with plenty of time before classes started. There were already a few cars in the parking lot when we parked, but not many. We noticed that when we got out, the jaws of the few students that were there dropped to the ground. We congregated in front of the Volvo and headed for the office where all eight of us squeezed in. Mom went to the front desk to speak to the secretary who was busy filing some papers.
"Excuse me," mom said in her melodic wind chime voice.
"Yes, dear, how can I help you?" Came the answer from the secretary without turning around.
"My brothers and sisters and I need our class schedules, this is our first day."
"Give me one moment dear, I just have to put this one thing away. Ok, your names please?" She turned around and saw all of us standing there. Like the students in the parking lot, her jaw dropped.
"Yes Mrs. Suza," mom had caught sight of her nametag before she'd leaned over her computer. "My name is Isabella McCarty, my brother Emmett is also here. Then there are my adopted siblings Edward and Vanessa Cullen, Alice and Jacob Black, and finally Rosalie and Jasper Hale."
"Oh, you are Dr Cullen's children. Yes, we've been expecting you I'll have your schedules in a moment." I heard the whir of the printer as it began spitting out our schedules. "Here you go; I'll let you hand them out Isabella. And here are some school maps so you can find your classes. There is one thing I need you to do today. You all need to have each of your teachers sign your schedule, and return them to me at the end of the day."
"Ok, no problem Mrs. Suza." We exited the office and Mom passed out our schedules. Since the school was so small, there were always at least 2 of us in a class together. I had first period history with Aunt Rose, second period trigonometry with Uncle Jasper; I had gym with Mom third period, then we all had lunch. After lunch I had biology fifth period with Uncle Emmett, Dad was in my music class during sixth, and I had last period English with both Aunt Rose and Uncle Emmett. I was kind of upset that I didn't have any classes with Jake, but since we were different grades I guess that made sense. I was excited by the fact that I had classes with my family; after completing multiple undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees, high school was just a game now and I would need someone to talk to so I could make it through the day. We continued talking for a few more minutes, two boys and a girl walked past us heading for their first class. They all stumbled when they looked up at us but kept walking; looking over their shoulders to make sure they hadn't imagined us. Emmett got a smirk on his face, whatever he was thinking would be interesting.
"So anyone care to make our first day a little more interesting with a tiny wager?" asked Uncle Emmett, always the instigator, and our resident gambler.
"I like what you're thinking Em, I'm in." said my dad, reading his brother's thoughts before he could tell anyone else.
"Care to enlighten the rest of us; we're not all annoying mind readers!" Aunt Rose just couldn't control her sarcasm at all.
"Well, babe, I was thinking it would be fun to see who can be the first family member to make a classmate faint."
"So what, the first family member to flirt to a human with enough force to cause them to faint wins? Oh I am so in, you all have no chance!" She was also never able to control her love for herself.
"Just so we all understand though, this does mean pretending to be nothing but brothers and sisters for the day. No intimate contact between couples until winner is determined."
"I'm in," came the resounding cry from the other 5 family members.
"So what are the stakes?" I was curious of what would be done for the winner, or better yet against the losers.
"Winner names there terms when the bet has concluded." That could be dangerous, really dangerous.
"Deal!" With that we all shook hands and headed for our first classes. This was going to be a great day!