My hand flew to my face. I could feel it starting to sting where my own Dad's hand had connected with my cheek, right next to my eye. I thought I would have a black eye at the least.
"Ray! Run! Aiden! Jason! Go to the car!" And with that, I ran for dear life. I looked back to see Aiden and Jason right behind me, and Ray getting up off the ground. She had a cut on her hand, and I assumed she had fallen. I threw both the kids in the back seat, and Ray got in with them in the back, and started to buckle them while I started the car and drove off. I looked back to see Dad standing in the yard yelling at Mom, who had come out to see what was happening. Five minutes later, we pulled into Edward's house. Aiden had passed out off exhaustion, but Jason was holding on for now. I shut off the car and climbed out. I opened the back door, and got Aiden out and pulled him into my arms. Rachel got Jason, and held his hand as we walked to the front door.
"So, I guess you came anyway." I joked to Ray, still in shock. Dad had never hit any of us.
"Yes, and I am scared to go back now. I mean I know I am 18, but he is 40. I don't want him to give me a black eye. Do you know what that would do to my rep?" She asked me. I just rolled my eyes.
We reached the front door, and I knocked. After about 5 minutes, the light turned on in the front hall. Then the door opened. It was Carlisle and Esme, Edward's parents. I could see Edward coming down the stairs in the background with his brother, Emmett, and sister, Alice, behind him.
"Girls? What are you two doing here?" Carlisle asked.
"Well, you see..It's a long story." I said. They stepped aside, and we walked inside. As soon as we were in, I heard a gasp.
"Oh, sweety! What happened to your eye?" Esme asked me.
"Well, that's part of the story. But first, I was wondering if we could stay here. The twins need to sleep." I asked, hoping I wasn't imposing.
"Oh of course! You can put them down in the living room here." She said. I walked into the living room, feeling Jason holding onto my shorts behind me. I laid Aiden down, kissed his forehead, and turned to Jason. I picked him up.
"If Aiden wakes up, can you tell him where we are?" I asked him. He nodded, yawning again.
"Ok. Goodnight sweety." I said. I laid him down next to Aiden, and he turned over, and wrapped his arm around Aiden. They were so cute. They were each others best friends. I covered them up, and I stood up to followed the others into the kitchen. Ray was standing across the room from Edward, and Edward was avoiding her eyes. Alice, Edward's sister, was standing next to Emmett, their brother. Alice was a year younger than us, while Emmett was a year older. Alice was shorter than the rest of us, with short spiky black hair. She was dating Jasper and they were absolutely perfect for each other. Emmett on the other hand was tall, with a football build. He was dating Rosalie, Jasper's twin sister. We all got along great, even though there were a lot of twins in our group. The only person I didn't see was their adoptive brother, Dallas, that was our age. He probably couldn't be bothered to get up. Once we were all in the kitchen, I told the story. When I got to the part where Dad had hit me, everyone freaked out.
"Oh, you poor thing! Let me look at that!" Esme said, but before she could move, Edward was all of the sudden at my side.
"Are you Ok?" he asked.
"I think so. It just happened so fast. All I could think about was the boys. I..." Now talking about it, and thinking about it, I could feel myself start to loose it.
"Mom and Dad are getting divorced. I don't want to live with Dad now, but I don't want to live with Mom either. He may hit, but she pays no attention to us. I would have to take care of Aiden, Elizabeth, and Jason and I can't do that yet, and I just..don't know anymore." By the end, I could feel the tears leaking down my cheeks. My face was stinging, and I could tell it was bruised. I lifted my hand to my face, and then I lost it.
"He...he h-h-hit me." I whispered. I looked up into Edward's eyes, and I could see the pain that all this was causing all of them. Edward stepped forward, and pulled me into his arms. I felt more arms and looked up from his shoulder to find Alice and Emmett standing with us as well. I looked over to Rachel. She was crying as well.
"Rachel." was all I said. I broke out of their arms, and walked over to her. I hugged her, and held on for dear life. Our whole world was falling apart around us, and it seemed like we were all that was left standing. I felt a hand on my back, and I looked up to see that Edward, Alice, and Emmett had followed me to Ray. Alice pulled Ray from my arms, and Edward pulled me back to him. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, and wrapped my arms around his neck. He rubbed my back, and just let me cry. Edward had been my best friend for so long and he thought nothing of hugging. I stayed in his arms, imagining that he liked me. At times like this, it was an easy thing to do, but I knew it wasn't true. He would never settle for someone as plain as me. Even in all the chaos, I vaguely wondered why he wasn't comforting Ray, but soon dismissed it. Rachel was moving further down my list of favorite people the longer she and Edward were together. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if they broke up.
No! Stop it! She is your sister! I reprimanded myself internally.
"Well, you kids are welcome to stay here. Ray, you can stay in Alice's room, and Bella, I am sure you will stay with Edward?" Esme asked me. I looked up to see her smiling. I smiled and gave a choked laugh back. I nodded, and looked at Edward.
"If that's Ok with you E," I said smiling. He laughed.
"Um...Duh! When have you ever stayed anywhere but my room when you were over here?" He asked. His smile was just as amazing as always, but this time it didn't reach his eyes.
"Well that one time when we were four," I said.
"That was the first time you ever slept over. You haven't slept in the guest room since that night," He scoffed at me.
We all laughed. Finally Edward went over to Ray, and they started talking. I went on up to Edward's room, and opened the door. It looked the same as it had for years now. The walls were dark blue on the top, changing to black a little over half way down. All his furniture was black. He had a full bed on the back wall, and to add to that, it was a bunk bed. The only difference was that underneath where a second bed had been, there was a desk with a computer that could be switched out with the bed. His comforter was black and blue. He had the left wall full of skateboards, and on the right side, he had a basket ball hoop, along with a basketball, soccer ball, and pretty much any other sport you could think of. Above all the sports stuff was a flat screen TV. There were paper's all over the desk, and on his black bookcase there was only one thing, a bunch of notebooks. They were his journals. I had never been aloud to read them. He said one day, but not yet. I had stopped asking a couple years ago. Under the wall of skateboards was 3 black, and 3 blue was no lights in the room, so the only light came in through the windows on the far wall. I went over and plopped down on the bean-bags. I sat there for a minute, then walked over to the closet. I opened the door, and walked in. I turned to my left where Edward kept his clothes. I opened the top drawer, and pulled out a pair of sweats, and a new t-shirt. I changed really fast, knowing Edward wouldn't care. Plus I liked wearing his clothes. I went back over to the bean-bags. After about ten more minutes, the door creaked open, then closed, once Edward was in. He walked over, and sat down next to me.
"I broke up with her," He said in a daze.
"Oh Edward! I am so sorry. What happened?" I asked him.
"She didn't even care that you were hurt. She just kept talking about how the cut on her hand was going to affect her cheering. I don't know. It just wasn't working anymore. We are still friends. But I get the feeling that she likes Dallas. I thought so before, but I never let myself believe it." he told me shrugging. I hugged him as I thought.
Dallas. He would be perfect for Ray. He was so much like Edward on the surface. They were both captain of sports teams. Dallas went to Ray's school though. I looked over at Edward, really taking his appearance for the first time that night. His bronze hair was cut shorter than normal, but still long enough to be shooting in every direction like it always was. His vibrant green eyes were like an open door for me. I could tell just about everything he was feeling by looking into those eyes. He was tall, and well built, but not to bulky. He was your everyday athlete. His looks were enough to make every girl at our school fall for him. But there was more to him than that. He loved music, and he had an amazing voice. He never sang for anyone but I had caught him once, so he didn't care when I heard anymore. He absolutely loved Aiden and Jason, and they adored him.
"Hey E. I have a question," I said, coming out of my thoughts.
"Ok. Shoot," He said, turning to me.
"It's Aiden. He has been acting different lately. He won't look me in the eyes as much, and he doesn't talk as much anymore. I don't know. It had just been weird cause Jace is acting fine. Its just Aiden," I told him, think about my little boy.
"Huh, I don't know. Wait. What are you going to do with them Monday? We have school, and no one will be home," He said.
"Oh. I don't know. Maybe I can take Aiden, and Ray can take Jason. Ray adores Jason, so she will watch him. I'm sure the school will make an exception," I said, not sure at all.
"Ok," Edward said. We continued to talk for about 10 minutes, and then we finally fell asleep.
When I woke up, the first thing that came to my mind was Aiden, Jason, and Elizabeth. Remembering that Lizzy was with a friend, I focused on the boys.
I got up, and went down stairs to find Aiden laying awake, but Jason still asleep. I picked up Aiden, and headed back up to Edward's room. When I got in, Edward was already up.
"Where did you go?" He asked, worry tainting his green eyes.
"To go check on the twins. Aiden was up so I got him. He doesn't have any clean clothes though," I said bouncing Aiden on my hip. I looked at him. He was sucking on his thumb with his head on my shoulder staring at the floor, and his other hand holding my shirt at the collar. His brown hair was getting long, and it hung into his green eyes that didn't seem to be focusing on anything.
"Aiden?" I asked. He lifted his head, still not looking me in the eyes.
"Do you want to come to school with Mommy on Monday?" I asked him. He nodded, and put his head back on my shoulder.
"See?" I asked Edward. He walked over, and took Aiden's face into his hands. He gently pulled his face up until Aiden had no choice but to look into his eyes.
"Aiden?" he said.
"Yes?" he whispered around his thumb.
"Do you want to change clothes?" he asked. I shot him a look, knowing that I had no clothes right now. Aiden didn't answer. Edward let him go, and Aiden went back to my shoulder.
"Wow. I see what you mean. I don't know. What do your parents say?" he asked me.
"They have been to busy fighting to notice," I whispered.
"I'm sorry Bells," he said, sorrow laced in his eyes and grim smile.
"Lets go down stairs and see what is for breakfast, shall we?" I asked, changing the topic quickly.
He smiled and nodded. We walked over to the door, and he opened it for me, trying to be a gentleman and all. I giggled and walked out, and down the stairs. As I reached the bottom, I heard screaming, laughing, and little feet running from bigger feet. As we stood in the hall at the bottom of the stairs, Jason came shooting across the hall alternating between screaming and laughing. Emmett was close behind him, and laughing all the way.
"Emmett! Grow up!" I heard Esme scold him.
"Mom! He started it!" he whined like a five year old. I laughed as we walked into the kitchen. It seemed that Emmett had gotten up before everyone else. Carlisle and Esme were leaning against the counter sipping coffee and trying not to laugh at their son. Emmett was dangling Jason up-side down in the middle of the kitchen. It was Sunday, so we had a free day before we had to get back to school. I looked around, and decided it was time to feed the boys.
"Jason! Come here please!" I called to him.
"Unc Emmy! Let me dow!!" He called from Emmett's arms, laughing. Emmett set him down, and he ran over to me. I set Aiden in a chair and pushed him up to the table. Next I turned to Jason. I picked him up into my arms.
"Good morning! How are you this fine day?" I asked him with a smile.
"Your funny, Mommy!" He giggled. I kissed his cheek, and sat him in the chair next to his brother. Edward walked up behind me, and I turned to see that he had cereal and spoons already. I smiled at him.
"Thank you," I said as I went to pour their juice. I opened the fridge, only to realize that the boy's cups were upstairs in their bag. I sighed and closed the door. Before I could even turn around, two cups were being dangled in front of my face. I turned to see a smiling Edward.
"Well aren't you just perfect!" I huffed, the sarcasm heavy in my voice as I tried in vain to hide just how perfect I though he really was. I took the cups and got out the apple juice. I filled the cups half way with apple juice, then water the rest of the way. I screwed the caps on, and walked over to the boys. I set each cup down, and walked back over to where everyone was now standing.
"So what are you kids up to today?" Carlisle asked.
"We were talking about going to play soccer, but I think we will wait until tomorrow. Just hang around the house today, you know?" Edward said, and I nodded. I reached over where the pop-tarts sat, and grabbed a package out of the box. I opened it, and took a bite as Rachel and Alice walk in with Dallas trailing behind them. We all sat down at the table and continued to talk. I looked at Rachel and Edward. They were avoiding each others eyes. Edward was playing with Jason who was closest to him, and Ray was talking to Dallas. Everyone was still in their pajamas. I had on Edward's sweats and t-shirt, Edward had on sleep pants and a t-shirt that had paint all over it, Rachel still had on the booty shorts and tank top, Dallas had on sleep pants with no shirt, Alice had on some cute little matching outfit with pixies on it fittingly, and Emmett had on a football shirt and black gym shorts.
"Bella, I tell you what. You kids have fun and hang out today. We will take the boys into town and watch them today. OK?" Carlisle asked me. I felt a smile creep up on my lips, and I nodded.
"Movie time!" Emmet announced, jumping out of his chair.
"Not yet. I have to let the boys finish," I said to him, chuckling at his excitement for a day of PJ's and movies. He sat back down pouting.
"No you kids go ahead! We can clean the boys up. Go on!" Esme assured us. Emmett cheered. I stood up and went to walk into the living room. I was stopped dead in my tracks with one shrill scream.