Broadway Blues

Edward POV

For as long as I could remember, I've always had to work hard. There was never a time where I could just (as some would say) stop and smell the roses. I could never say I had time on my hands. I could never say that things could wait a moment to do what I pleased.

No. I was to much of a hard worker for that. And I know what you're probably thinking; 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. But what if Jack didn't have a choice? What if Jack had to work since he was a little kid? What if all Jack knew was hard work?

My name was Edward Cullen, and I have never had a break in my life. But that's no way to start out my ho-hum of a life story, so let's start where all my troubles began.

I was about four years old then, and my mother, Esmerelda, (known to everyone as Esme) was giving birth to my little brother.

Flashback

I cowered behind the door of my parents room, where my mom was going through what sounded like deathly labor pains.

"Carlisle, it hurts!" She cried.

"I know, love, I know," he soothed, trying to do everything he could to help his wife and child.

I flinched as mom let out another ear piercing scream, followed by a loud groan by my father.

"Push, love. Push!"

"I…I can't!" she sobbed, the words blending in with another loud shriek.

Tears were pooling in my eyes, ready to spill over at any moment. I was extremely frightened. What was happening to my mother? Was my little brother going to be alright? What was dad doing?

After forever, I heard a soft mewing sound that was the unmistakable sound of a newborn baby.

"Esme," Carlisle sighed, sounding overly joyous. "Meet Jayden Micheal Cullen."

Jayden! My brother was here!

I hesitated a short second before cracking the door open.

Carlisle was holding a tiny blue bundle, lying next to Mom, overly huge grins on their faces. Mom looked exhausted, but estatic nonetheless.

"Edward," Carlisle said happily. "Come meet your brother."

I quickly ran over and hopped onto the bed, eager to see my brother that I unwillingly had to wait nine months for.

It was so weird. He was so tiny, so fragile looking. He almost looked like one of those porcelain dolls that girls on TV had.

His hair matched my dad's, but then again, so did mine when I was little, but now my hair was like my mom's; bronze. So there really was no telling what color his hair would be.

His eyes were closed, so I couldn't tell what color they were. My eyes were (again) like my mother's, emerald green, and my dad's was a warm ocean bluish color.

"I wanna hold him!" I shouted excitedly.

Jayden flinched and started screaming his head off.

"Edward, sweetie. You have to be more quiet, alright?" Esme whispered soothingly, effectively removing the large frown on my face as she caressed my cheek lovingly.

I leaned into her warm hand smiling my special smile (as she put it) just for her.

That night, I fell asleep happy, comforted by the fact that my mother and baby brother were safe and sound.

But I was wrong. Oh boy was I wrong.

Later that night, I was woken by the sounds of large boots clomping down the hallways, loud noises from Jayden and demands from my father.

I quickly jumped from my bed and ran out, going straight for my mom and dad's room.

"Dad!" I cried, very worried and even more frightened with what was going on.

Carlisle took no notice as he rushed by, holding baby Jayden in his arms, surprising tears streaming down his face.

I hurriedly padded down the hallway and down the stairs, where I found a bunch of strange men carrying my deathly pale and limp mother out the door.

"Momma!" I gasped. "Dad! They're taking Mom away!"

Jay was crying loudly, just like I was about to do. Dad was absolutely silent.

"Dad, why are they taking Mom away?" I whispered.

Carlisle slowly dropped down to his knees and hugged Jay and me tightly. And then I knew. My mom…my beautiful, intelligent, inquistive, strong-willed mother…was dead.

End Flashback

It was over fourteen years ago that I lost my mother, but that was only the beginning of my troubles. But this tragedy happened when Jay was nine and I was thirteen.

Flashback

"I'm kickin' your butt Ed!" Jay laughed, twisting the controller left and right.

"Oh yeah?" I challenged. "Well, watch and learn little bro because I'm about to school ya!"

Jay and I have been extremely close and the best of friends since he was born, much to Dad's delight. I was right about the blonde hair thing. Jay's hair turned, just like mine did, but it was a mixture of colors.

His hair was a reddish, brownish, goldish color. It was weird, but what did it matter? I've seen stranger things. Also, his eyes were a grayer version of Mom and Dad's, so it looked like a dusty bluish-green.

I was about to lay my famous move that was guarantee to almost never fail on him when Dad came in the room, looking a exhausted.

"Hey, Dad," I called. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, son. I'm just worn out from work. Listen, I'm going to the store to get some stuff for dinner. Will you and Jay be alright for ten minutes?"

"Yeah!" Jay screamed. "Can you watch me Ed? Please?!"

I chuckled. Jay was always enthusiastic when I watched him. I guess it had something to do with giving him all the ice cream and video games he wanted.

"Yeah, sure Dad. We'll be fine."

He nodded and flashed us a smile before jogging out to the car. As soon as we heard the soft engine fade down the street, Jay jumped up excitedly.

"Come on Ed! Let's get some ice cream!"

"Jay, we don't have any. You ate it all yesterday."

His face fell. "Well, what do we have then?"

"We got marshmellows from—"

"ALRIGHT!" He whooped, zooming off to the kitchen like a frikin rocket.

I laughed and went after him, yelling for him to save me some.

Two and a half hours later, Jay and I were sitting on the couch, looking expectantly at the door.

"Hey, Ed?" Jay murmured. "Where's Dad?"

"…I don't know, Jay. He was supposed to be here by now…"

It was another full hour when there was a knock at the door.

"Finally!" Jay shouted. I quickly shushed him and hesitantly opened the door.

"…Yes? Can I help you?" I asked the tall strange police man at the door.

"Are you Edward Cullen?"

"…yes?"

"Son, I mean you no harm, but you're going to have to come with me."

"W-what!?"

At my outburst, Jay came running to the door, looking almost frantic.

"Ed! What's wrong? Who are you? Where's Dad? Is he with you? He's late! Where is he!?" As usual, Jay was talking a mile a minute. But I took no notice. This guy was trying to take us away. And where was our father?

"Son, my name is officer Lyle, and I'm going to take you to a nice place where you can find all kinds of new friends and families, okay? I'm not here to harm you."

I didn't hear anything past 'new families'.

"Where's our father?" I murmured, looking him dead in the eye.

"Come on, boys," Officer Lyle said, ignoring me completely. With one swift motion, my arm shot out, blocking Jay from moving.

"Where. Is. Our. Father?"

Officer Lyle's face fell a little and he sighed.

"I'm so sorry, but…your father was in a car crash. A drunk driver hit him. The impact killed them both instantly. I'm here to take you both into custody of the state. You'll be living in a foster home now. But I promise you, we will find you the best family possible."

And just like that, my brain shut down. That was the last thing I heard from then, until I fell asleep in the police station with a very upset Jayden at my side.

End Flashback

The next morning, Lyle took us to the Pride Foster Care in Seattle, where we met Miss Burkley and a bunch of orphaned and (sadly) given up children.

It was only fourteen years later that they let me and Jay loose. But it was only because I got a job at 16 and have saved every penny to buy us an apartment.

Which led us here, in a small two bedroom apartment in Forks, where Jay and I are living off whatever money might cross our path.

"Ed?" Jay called, sounding worn.

"I'm in here, buddy," I called, trying to hurry up with the dinner so I could feed my exhausted brother.

"Need some help?"

"Nah, I'm good. Hope your hungry, because I made a lot of spaghetti. I just got to find out how to make it stop sticking to the bottom of the pot…" I murmured, chuckling dryly.

Jay sighed and slumped in a chair.

"What's wrong, squirt?"

"I'm tired, Ed. School is tough."

"I know. It'll get easier."

"I don't understand this at all!" He groaned. I turned to see what he was talking about. It was a Pre-Algebra worksheet.

"You have to divide the numerator by the denominator and then multiply, Jay."

He looked at me quizzically. "In English please?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Look, after dinner, I'll help you okay?" I poured some sauce in a pot and turned on the low flame.

"And, if you finish on time, the ice creams all yours."

His frown instantly faded as he raced off to do his other homework assignments.

I sighed and shook my head as I stirred the sauce.

Once everything was ready, I popped some garlic rolls in the microwave and set the table.

"Jay! Dinner's ready!" I called.

It was a second later when Jay came bounding into the room and plopped down in his seat.

Since Jay barely knew Mom and got only a short time with Dad, I had to play the part for both of them. So of course, you know what's coming up next.

"So, besides what I hear about the homework, how's school?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Fine, Ed, and you don't have to do that."

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "Do what, Jay?"

"Pretend to be our parents. I know you mean well, but…its okay. Just be my big brother okay? Besides, you freak me out when you try to tuck me in. I mean, you almost suffocated me last time."

After a few minutes of staring at each other, we burst out laughing.

After we calmed down from our hysterical high, I sighed and ruffled his hair.

"Alright, Jay. I'll just be your brother from now on, okay? Now eat up before I tuck you in again."

We laughed some more and finished dinner.

After I finished washing the dishes, and helping Jay with his homework, I joined the sticky mouthed Jay in the living room, where he was watching a TV show.

"Hey, Ed! Look!" He pointed his spoon towards the TV before dipping it in some more chocolate ice cream.

I turned towards the TV, where an announcer was chatting away happily.

"…Is going to be the show of the century! The play involves the beautiful teen actress, Bella Swan, who has been on the big screen since she was a child."

The scene changed to a little girl with two brown pig tails and huge chocolate brown eyes. She was wearing a little blue sundress and was singing and dancing with a guy, looking immensely happy. The scene quickly changed back to the woman after that.

"Tickets are flying out the window. So come down now to get your tickets to see the award winning show. I'm Tiffany Fredricks, signing off."

Before the show went off, there was another clip of the 'Bella Swan' character, and she was singing in the most beautiful voice I've ever heard.

"Isn't she hot? Can we go?" Jay asked excitedly. I've never understood why, but Jay has always had a thing for shows and drama. But hey, as long as he wasn't dressing up like a girl and wearing heels, I was cool.

"Jay…" I trailed off. I hated to disappoint him, since he didn't ask for much, but…I didn't have any money for expensive shows. I barley had enough for the spaghetti because I had to scrape the last two nickels I had for the rent.

"Buddy…I…"

He sighed. He knew where I was going with this.

"Okay, that's cool. But hey, maybe we can save up some money to catch a real basketball game this summer like we planned, right?"

I nodded and tried to give an encouraging smile.

"Well, I'm off to bed. I gotta be up at 6:30 for school, remember?" He chuckled, putting the ice cream away.

"'Night Ed," He smirked, putting his fist up. I bumped fists with him and muttered a good night.

After Jay was gone, I put my head in my hands and sighed.

God, I have to do this for him. I had to get Jay those tickets.

But little did I know, just by thinking those fifteen words, my life was about to change...forever.

Okay, so here's the chapter 2.

Reviews are appreciated. So plz and thank you. :)

Also, do you think I laid it on a bit thick there with Edward and Jay's characters? Hmm...oh well. Next upload should be soon, so don't give up on me :)