Chapter 2: Same Old
By: courthale
POV: Emmett

I woke before the alarm, again. I rolled over, like every other day, expecting a warm body to be lying next to me. But there wasn't. There hadn't been for five years, and every morning it was like that fateful night. My heart ached every time my hands came up empty as I reached to her side of the bed.

My Rosie.

I sighed and turned onto my back, looking up at the ceiling. My thoughts every second of every day were consumed by her. She was the glue that held this life together, and when I lost her, I lost a part of myself. Half of myself.

I thought about my girls, my strong, beautiful and perfect girls. They each had a piece of the woman who loved and cherished them more than life itself. I think of how she would be if she were here to see them today. Would she be proud of how I had raised them? Would she approve of what kind of a father I was?

I knew that she sat up on her perch in heaven looking down on us. I could even imagine her yelling at me to do this instead of that, and smiled. She was my stubborn wild spirited other half. She always was my angel. So, imagining her up in heaven now was not that far off. She was there with her mother now. I knew we would be together again someday, but as of right now, I had to be here. I had to be the best father I could for those three souls. She wouldn't have it any other way.

I scrubbed my face angrily with my hands, feeling that familiar moisture falling from my eyes. I threw the covers off myself and began my morning ritual. I put on my running shorts and grabbed a Forks High t-shirt. I grabbed my University of Oklahoma hoodie and pulled it on.

I walked through the still quiet house. It was only about five in the morning. My runs lasted about two hours. The girls didn't even have to be up until seven. I grabbed my iPod and my keys. I walked out the door and locked it behind me. I shivered as the cold morning air hit me while I went around the side of the house to our backyard.

"Here boy," I whistled. Max was already waiting for me and jumped as I opened the gate. "Let's go."

I stretched out on the porch before my run with Max watching and waiting. After that, I stuck in my ear buds and took off down the road with Max at my side.

I loved running in the mornings. It was something that kept me sane. It was also something that I did, even before Rosie died. For that small amount of time, things were like they used to be. I wouldn't completely pretend, but it was almost as if I had something to hold on to. I could imagine her at home making pancakes, or waking up, feeling a little frisky and waiting for me in the shower completely naked.

I would shake off these thoughts after about an hour in and clear my mind completely. I blasted the heavy sounds of my running playlist. I felt the vibrations of my feet against the hard pavement. I even took a trek through the woods, which always made Max happy. It allowed me to work on my agility with the obstacles in my way. I gave myself over to my instincts. Nothing and no one could stop me, and that's what I needed to start my day.

I doubled back and ran back towards my home. The light was still dreary through the clouds, but that was just Forks. I went into a full out sprint as I drew closer. I reached my driveway and stopped. I let my breath be controlled again and tried to shake out my aching muscles. I looked down at my watch and saw that it was only about 6:45. That was the best time in a long time.

I stretched out before going back inside. I could see the lights were on and smiled. Mandy was awake. She was my enigma. My little girl who looked just like her dad. Poor thing. I chuckled and walked into the kitchen. She was our middle daughter. At the ripe old age of ten, she already acted like she was going on forty. She was the one I could never understand.

I guess I should tell you all about my girls. Rosalie and I had three daughters before she passed due to a drunk driver. We met in college at the University of Oklahoma. I was on scholarship for football and she was from a small town near Norman. It was love at first sight. I saw her walk into my freshman orientation class and that was it for me. She was it for me. We got married shortly after graduation and moved back closer to my parents. Her dad was never a part of her life and her mother had passed sophomore year due to breast cancer.

After we moved to Forks, she became pregnant with our first daughter, Violet, or Vi as she prefers to be called these days. Violet was only eight when Rosie was killed. She takes after her mother in looks and attitude. She's the epitome of a girly girl. She's daddy's girl and knows it. She uses it to her advantage any chance she gets. Everything about her was all Rosalie.

She cared about fashion and her looks to the point that I had to put a stop to it sometimes. In my opinion as a father, my thirteen year old daughter was not going to wear make up until she was sixteen, and her skirts had to reach her knees. She cried when I told her this. My resolve almost crumbled, but when I realized she was faking it, I stood my ground. She shrieked at me and then stomped to her room, slamming the door behind her for affect.

Then there was Mandy, or Amanda, as she preferred to be called these days. She took her mother's death the hardest. She was such an outgoing little girl when her mother was alive. She was in everything and was a natural. Her mother took her to gymnastics, ballet, and even swim classes. She had such grace for a child. Her mother loved to be able to dote on her.

She would even help with Mandy's ballet. She was quite the ballerina herself when she was younger. I don't think Amanda even looked at her ballet shoes anymore. When Rosie died, Amanda was only five. Not only that, but she was in the car as it happened. I never talked to her about that night, because she never opened up to me, but I knew watching her mother die was what made her withdraw so much.

The ways she confused me was that she treated her room as a sanctuary. It was the place you could count on her always being. But, she was always taking care of us. She made the lunches. Got everyone up in the morning for me. She set out breakfast for us all. Everything she did was to take care of her sisters and me.

Then, there is my little Em. She is also the spitting image of her mother. Long blonde hair and big blue eyes that screamed girl, but she was my tomboy. She was her daddy's shadow. Emma had the least time with her mother, which is why I think she is so much like me. She was never truly shown what it was like to have a mother.

She was only two when her mother was taken from her. Emma played sports, got dirty in the mud, and watched any type of sport with me on the television. She even stayed with me to "help" me coach "those sorry excuses for players" at Forks High. Her words, not mine. Everyone called her Em because she was my mini me, as my mother had pointed out.

"Good morning, Mandy," I said and kissed her forehead.

"Ew, dad. You're all sweaty, and you stink. And it's Amanda." She sighed. I shrugged at her and smirked. "Come here, Maxie," She said and sat down his bowl of food. He licked her hand and then went to eat and gulp down plenty of water. He was always such a good sport and a great running partner. "Did he keep up well?" She asked and petted his head.

"Yeah. He was perfect." I kissed her on the top of her head again and grabbed a piece of the apple she had been cutting. "Be careful with that knife."

"Yeah, dad, I know," She said, exasperated. I chuckled and walked out of the kitchen. "And I'm not the one who had to be taken to the emergency room because I was trying to show off my fast cutting skills!" She yelled back at me. I laughed loudly and walked towards my room.

I knocked on Emma's door along the way, "Em, you up?"

Her door swung open and she smiled, "Guess what today is?" She was bouncing up and down in her excitement.

I chuckled, "Um, let me think," I said and mock concentrated, leaning against her door frame.

"Pops, cut the bull…" I covered her mouth with my hand before she could finish.

"What the hell, girl?" I asked and groaned when I realized what I'd said. She quirked an eyebrow at me, and my hand was still covering her mouth. "Just not in public, please?" I said, defeated. She nodded, and I pulled my hand away.

"Our first game!" She whooped. I smiled at her enthusiasm and nodded. I hated the fact that I had to become a coach just so she would be able to play. None of the other coaches wanted to be responsible for a girl. I fucking hated small towns.

"Hey, daddy," I heard behind me, and turned to see my oldest coming out of her room. I looked her up and down and shook my head.

"Um, I don't think so," I said and pointed to her room. "Change, and I said no make up, except lip gloss and some eye shadow." She pouted at me.

"But daddy," She whined.

"No," I said firmly. She stomped her foot, reminding me of her mother more and more, and walked back into her room.

"I hate when she's pmsing." Em said from behind me. I couldn't help the laugh that came from me. She giggled and punched my arm, "Hey, help me, please?" She said and handed me her hair tie. Being a single dad of three girls, you learn a lot of things. For example; I can braid hair like nobody else.

After I finished with her hair, I sent her off to eat her breakfast while I took a quick shower. We were running a bit late, so I had to work fast to get ready. I jumped into the shower and let the hot water run over my over worked muscles. I washed my hair quickly and scrubbed my body clean.

I walked back into my room and pulled on my boxers. I put on my Everlast sweat pants and a white short-sleeved shirt. I threw on my matching zip jacket, and was ready for work. I was the P.E. teacher at Forks high school, and the coach for almost all the sports there. It was a perk to be able to wear comfortable clothes to my job.

I rushed out my bedroom door and through the house, "Are we all ready?" I called out.

"Yep," Em said from her place on the couch. They were all sitting in the living room, dressed, with backpacks by their feet.

Amanda was reading a book in the armchair. Em was flipping through channels. Vi was sitting on the edge of the couch texting. I shook my head at them, so different yet so alike.

"Let's go, troops. Hut hut!" I said.

Em shut the TV off and stood, then saluted at me. She grabbed her backpack and headed out the door. Amanda sighed and rolled her eyes at me. She stuffed her book back in her bag and walked out the front door. Vi was giggling at her phone, not even paying attention to me.

"Violet, if you don't get out to the car now, I'll tell all your friends you wet the bed until you were ten." I threatened. She scoffed and slung her bag over her shoulder, stuffing her phone into her pocket.

"Which is a total lie." She said and walked out the door.

"Yes, but they don't know that!" I shouted at her. I looked over at Max, who was resting on his dog bed. He tilted his head to the side and I swear he smiled, "If it wasn't for you, I'd die of an estrogen overdose." He huffed and laid his head back down.

I stepped out the front door and locked it behind me. I jogged over to my Jeep Patriot. Amanda was sitting up front, reading her book again. Em and Vi were bickering in the back seat, like always. I started the car and we were off.

"What are you reading?" I asked Amanda as we drove. She shrugged and looked over at me.

"Do you really want to know?" She smiled. I nodded and she smiled wider. She tucked a strand of her brunette hair behind her ear and took a deep breath, "It's called The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's kind of out of my reading range, but it's really nice to read. I find it very poignant," She said, with such clear preciseness you would never guess she was only ten years old.

"Wow," I said in awe. She really was my enigma.

"Yeah," She said with a smile, "It's really kind of funny what you can get away with reading in this school. Incompetent fools," She said quietly.

"What?" I said while keeping my eyes on the road. We pulled up to the school and I dropped off Em first. All of our schools were on the same block, since it was such a small town.

"Later, Pops," Em yelled and slammed the door.

"It's just something I found in the library, and it's not exactly material for young people," She giggled. "It's no Harry Potter. That's for sure."

"Uh huh," I pulled up to the middle school and she smiled at me.

"Don't worry, dad. It's just an interesting read for your own wall flower." She smiled softly and got out of the car. She waved at me through the window and walked into the doors of her school. I stared at her as she disappeared inside and felt my heart squeeze painfully.

My little girl. So broken.

"Daddy, let's go. I don't want to be late," Vi said, tearing me from my thoughts. I nodded and cleared my throat.

"Got a hot date?" I teased. She stiffened before shrugging in indifference. "What? I saw that. Do you have a boyfriend? Oh my fuck. Dammit. You have a boyfriend. My little girl has a boyfriend. She's gonna be corrupted and…"

"DAD!" She shouted, stopping my rant. I stopped abruptly in front of her school and she shook her head. "I don't have a boyfriend, alright? It's just," She paused and looked down into her lap. She caught my eyes in the rear view mirror. "Never mind. I'll talk to you after school." She said and stepped out of the car, practically sprinting to the doors.

"What the hell?" I asked myself. I started towards the teacher parking at the high school and got out. "Only thirty-five fucking years old and I'm gonna die of a heart attack from these girls. Fantastic, Emmett. Real smooth." I shook my head at myself.

"Hey, Coach!" I heard from around me. The kids greeted me warmly every morning. I was considered the cool teacher. It was refreshing to be around people who actually acted like they enjoyed my company.

The day went by quickly. It was fun to just get to do something I loved all day long. I loved getting the kids in shape and up and around. When you were trapped inside all day, it made P.E. refreshing. I was never rough on kids. I gave A's for effort and let everyone be involved. No one ever felt left out in my class.

After the day was over, I hopped back into my car and went to get my girls. It was a reverse of the morning. Vi climbed into the front seat. She looked out of the window and waved at a group of her friends.

"Good day?" I asked and drove to the curb where I could see her younger sisters waiting.

"Yeah, I had a test. I think I did pretty well," She said nonchalantly.

"Good," I said and stopped in front of Em and Mandy. They both climbed into the car quietly.

"Hey, daddy, I was wondering if I could go to the mall with Samantha tonight?" Vi asked me.

"Hey! My game's tonight," Em said from the backseat. I looked into the rear view mirror and noticed her hurt expression.

"It's not like I do anything when I'm there," Vi said and rolled her eyes, having no idea how much she was hurting her sister.

"Vi, you really should go. It's a family event. We go to everything of yours," I answered, trying to get her to go.

"But," She started, but then Amanda interrupted.

"You're going. Don't be a spoiled brat. It's rude." She said, still reading her book. Vi huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine," She grumbled. I was about halfway home by now, and looked back at Em. She looked sad as she fidgeted with her backpack. I looked at the road again before glancing back one more time. I saw Mandy had turned to her sister and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen from her braid behind her ear.

Em smiled at her sister, and then scooted closer to her. Amanda wrapped her arm around her little sister's shoulder. Em rested her head on Amanda and closed her eyes. I couldn't really tell what Amanda was whispering to her and only caught a few things, but one struck me like a truck.

"Mom would be so proud of you."

And she would. She would be proud of them all.

A few hours later, I was standing on the sidelines of my teams first game. I had them all huddled around me, getting them pumped for the game.

"Who are we?!" I shouted.

"TIGERS!!" They all answered.

"What are we gonna do?!"

"WIN!"

"Great guys, now let's get out there and do our best." I patted them on the back and sent out my first stringers and led the others to the benches.

The game was fun and pretty intense for a bunch of seven and eight year olds. Em was definitely my star player, followed closely by Luca. He was a beginner and really a natural.

I glanced over at the stands and saw Bella, his mother. She was a very attractive woman. Her hair was a long and brown, looked like it would feel silky to the touch. She was only about 5' 4" give or take. She had the perfect amount of curves. Her breasts weren't overly protrusive, but would be a good handful.

"WE WON!" I turned back and noticed Em rushing towards me. I hadn't even noticed what had happened, but the clock had run out and we were six over the other team. I smiled as Em collided with me, and then let out an 'oomph' from all her padding hitting me. She pulled away and smiled.

"We won! We won!" She cheered. The other started cheering with her and I smiled.

"PIZZA!" I shouted. All of the team just cheered louder. I had made a deal with all the parents that win or lose; we would go to the local pizza place after the game.

We all trickled into the pizza place; families and kids all filled the back room. I stood at the front door and greeted everyone.

"Hey, Coach," I heard and looked down to see Luca with Bella behind him.

"Hey, guys. I think you are the last ones, so I'll walk you back there." I said and let Luca walk in front of me. "Hey, Bella," I said. She looked over at me and smiled.

"Hello, Emmett," She said with a small blush.

"Alice couldn't come, eh?" I said and led them into the backroom. Luca ran over to his friends, receiving high fives.

I continued walking and saw some of the parents sitting over by a window. I looked over and noticed Bella had not moved from her spot. She was wringing her hands and nervously chewing on her bottom lip. She looked totally uncomfortable.

It struck me suddenly at how different she was treated. She only ever talked to Alice when at practice. The looks some of the other mothers gave her were cold and uncaring. I had even heard someone talking about the chief's promiscuous daughter moving in with him. I just didn't really put together how uncomfortable she would be in this sea of judgmental people until now.

From what I had experienced with her, she was kind and caring. She was a great mother and always treated the kids with such respect and tender affection, even the ones who she barely knew. It was an unfair way for her to be treated this way, but it was what it was. This was a small town and things were said and judgments were passed without a second thought.

I knew how the others looked at me. I was scrutinized at every turn with how I raised my children after my wife died. I also knew how they talked about me. I was drooled after like some piece of meat. I was propositioned at every turn, and most of these women were married with families and children of their own.

I was sick of how hypocritical these women were. They would hope and pray that I would call on them for a nice fuck, but looked down on someone who makes a bad judgment call as a young woman for being pregnant out of wedlock. How screwed up is that?

I turned and noticed a table with two chairs facing one another completely empty. I smiled and then turned to her. I waved her to the table and she smiled before nodding. I pulled out her chair and she sat gently with a shy smile.

"Thank you." She looked over at the table of parents and sighed, shaking her head. I ignored it, knowing she would talk about it if she needed to.

"Now," I said and rubbed my hands together, "I determine how a person is with their favorite pizza. What's yours, Miss Swan?" I smiled at her, showing off my dimples. It was an uncanny talent of mine to be able to make a person more relaxed and free spirited. Around me, I could help people be happier. I loved to make people laugh. It's what people said made Rosie and I a perfect fit. She was too serious and I was anything but.

She giggled and relaxed slightly, "Well, I have to say my favorite is Hawaiian Pizza. I love the Canadian bacon and pineapple."

"Be still my heart," I said jovially and clutched my chest. She blushed and laughed. "You passed the test, fair maiden. They are already bringing me out that exact pizza, extra large."

"Oh, yum." She smiled. I gave her one back and looked over at the kids.

Emma was talking loudly and excited for the first win of the season. I didn't understand the big deal of her playing. She was just as great, if not better, than the boys. She got along with them all, well except Luca. I'm pretty sure I knew why though.

"Has Luca always been such a gentlemen?" I smirked. She laughed and nodded.

"That was one rule under my roof; never hit a woman." She said, knowing exactly what I was talking about.

"Yeah, well, Em won't let it be easy for him," I said and shook my head thinking about my youngest. "She's tough, though. He can at least take it out on her in scrimmage." I chuckled.

"Well, he has voiced his thoughts on an exception to the rule," She teased. I laughed and nodded.

"She's my tomboy." I looked over at the table again and saw Emma looking over at Luca as he talked to some of the other teammates. She smiled softly and blushed, then looked down.

"My dad said she probably just has a little crush on him," She said and laughed. I nodded in agreement.

"I suspected. She'd never admit it, though." I looked back to Bella and she was looking over at Luca.

"And neither would he," She sighed. The servers finally brought out our pizzas. The kids dug in and so did we. I hadn't eaten for quite a while and was starving. We sat in silence and just ate for a few minutes. I heard Bella sigh and looked over at her. She was half looking over at the table of parents and messing with her food, barely eating it. I gulped down my last bite.

"Small towns suck. This I know," I chuckled. She nodded and looked at me.

"I'm used to Phoenix. It's too big of a place to always be surrounded by people who pass judgments. Here, they're everywhere," She whispered like a bad horror movie voice over.

"You sounded like that woman from..."

"Poltergeist." We both finished at the same time. We laughed at each other.

"I love that movie. I pretty much love any scary movie. I'm a huge Clive Barker fan. I read his books like it's a religion," She said.

"Marry me?" I asked jokingly. She laughed loudly and shook her head.

"Seriously, I love everything scary. It's just hard to get to see any good ones on the big screen anymore. Luca will not be exposed to those until he's older." She said. I nodded in understanding.

"I know what you mean. None of my girls will see those until they're old enough." I nodded. An idea struck me, "Hey, they're playing Halloween one and two at the old theater for the next two weeks. How about we go?"

"Really?" She smiled, "I'd love to."

"Great. The girls will be at their grandparents tomorrow."

"Luca is staying at Alice's for a slumber party with Blake tomorrow night. I would be more than free then," She said excitedly.

"Great, I'll meet you there at seven."