EPOV

I was happy to be off of work, but depressed to have to go home to the squalor that had become my life.

I knew before I even opened the door to our two-bedroom wasteland that Esme would be laying on the couch, sauced of course. Alice was fourteen, but I knew she would be in her bedroom playing with her My Little Ponies collection. They were left over from some of the junk from the attic that didn't sell when we had to "liquidate" our belongings. After she'd lost all of her furniture and clothes to the repo guys, she'd regressed mentally to when she was about eight or nine.

"Eddie-bear!" she called from her room as I opened the front door to the dinky little house. "Come and see what we've built!"

Of course by "we" she meant her and her ponies. I walked to her door and looked inside. First I noticed that she had cut another chunk of her hair. She once prized her long locks and wouldn't cut them for the world. That, of course, was before her world collapsed. Now she had some jagged crumples that went down to her shoulders and others no longer than chin length. She had a crazy look on her face as she danced up to the door and greeted me with a kiss on the cheek.

"Sir Edward!" she announced proudly, bowing low to the ground. She motioned for a pony in each hand to bow down as well. "Welcome… to your castle!"

I rolled my eyes at the scale model castle she'd built out of toilet paper roles and trash for the most part. She flitted back to her pony palace and began to hum loudly to herself. She took a pair of scissors and started hacking away at one of the pony's manes.

"Bad, bad, bad Daffidazy! You shouldn't be jealous of Cloud Climber's wings! For that… you must be… punished!" She continued hacking away at the pony hair with her lips pursed and her brow furrowed.

I glanced behind me to see Esme passed out on the couch in the living room. She was surrounded by a pile of cheap liquor bottles and expired TV guides.

"Edward!" Alice shouted. "I'll be Toola-Roola and you be Bay Breeze. Here," she said, handing me a plastic toy that looked like a squatting dog struggling to take a dump. I hated the pony poses. This one's hair had already been attacked and one of the ears was chewed off.

"No thank you, Alice," I declined politely.

"Then how about I be Star Catcher and you can be Rainbow Dash?"

She shuffled through her pile of abused ponies, trying to find the right ones.

"No," I said more firmly. "I'm not going to play, Alice."

"But Edward," she whined, "You used to play ponies with me all the time."

"That's back when you were six," I argued, "And I was nine and the only way I could persuade you to play ninjas with me was to patronize you with one of those silly tea parties or help you dress your Barbies in those fruity outfits."

I shuddered at the memories. I was only nine, I tried to defend myself from my own judgments. And I was desperate for someone to play ninjas with. That's the only reason I played ponies. I shuddered again and almost gagged. I thought being exposed at work tonight was the worst thing that could have happened to me, but now I realized that the very worst thing would be for them to know I played My Little Ponies with my sister.

"That's right!" she exclaimed. "I'd almost forgotten we used to be ninjas! Let's be ninjas now!"

She hopped up and kicked the ponies aside. She began swatting aimlessly at the air with her hands and feet. "Hi-yah!"

She was so into her own little crazy world that I decided she wouldn't even know I was gone. I closed the door to her room and turned around to take another look at Esme. Her mouth was agape and her unconscious lips hung slightly toward the direction her head was crooked. Gravity takes its toll, I guess. She was snoring slightly and wearing the same bathrobe she'd been in for going on two days now. When she fell asleep she must have rolled over onto her bag of chips. Smashed Doritos were caught on the cheap fabric all down the side of the crappy plaid couch and fell into messy piles on the floor.

"Gee," I mumbled, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was depressed."

I tried to chuckle at the despair the situation brought with it, but seeing my mother like that was rough. And seeing Alice that way… it was almost just too much. She had so much looked forward to starting high school this year; however, we'd all decided to keep her home when she had her break down. One day she was a well-polished, bright, happy girl: the next she cracked like a fragile egg. Who could really say where her mind was at this particular moment? It was probably trying to protect itself from the tragic reality that Carlisle was out of work, Esme was now a drunk and Emmett was addicted to working out. Oh yeah: and to the fact that I was Sir Edward at a Royal Burger. We'd all been pressed to our emotional extremes.

What I didn't understand was why Carlisle allowed us to live that charade for so long. Never for a moment did any of us think that something was wrong. He played it real cool when buying that timeshare in the Hamptons last year. And when he brought home a new sports boat that he used once. Not to mention the time when he took us all to Vegas for a week and wasted 40 grand at the tables. That was just six weeks ago. We chalked that trip up to bad luck at the time, but never did we open our eyes to see that he was trying to multiply the last of our funds (all of which was borrowed money). Since then he's only borrowed more. The interest rates keep getting higher and higher each time he takes out a loan or applies for a card over the phone.

"Esme?" I asked, prodding my mother on the shoulder. "Esme?"

She sucked in a monstrous snore before coming to.

"Hmm?"

"Hey, Esme. Where's Emmett?"

She looked at me like she didn't know where she was for a minute. She smiled warmly.

"What's that, Edward?" she asked. She looked down at the bottles and the piles of chips; her smile left completely. "He's where he usually is."

That meant the basement. He'd set up a "weightlifting station" down there. Of course, we didn't have any money for actual gym equipment or for a membership to a gym. So, he made a makeshift gym. He hauled in a bunch of dead wood and rocks. The way he treated it all like it was actual equipment made him just as disillusioned as Alice.

"Emmett?" I called as I shuffled down the crappy wooden steps that might have cracked under me any given moment.

"Hold on, bro!" he hollered. "I've just got seven more sets of thirty-five reps to do with the medium logs and then I've got to get this boulder from here to there a few times. Wanna' join me for a sweat?"

I looked at him like he was retarded because in this moment, he pretty much was! I was beginning to get frustrated, and rightfully so! After all, I was the only member of this family with an actual job; albeit, minimum wage. I seemed to be the only one with any clue as to how bad off we really were; everyone else was just so focused on finding a way to mentally escape our situation.

"No," I hissed. "I don't want to join you for a sweat."

"Oh," he said, wiping the perspiration off of his brow with his forearm. "Then why'd you come down here?"

"I just came to tell you that a job might be opening up at the Royal Burger. I'm going to be moving up and out of that place."

"No thanks," he said. "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing your uniform."

What an ungrateful turd.

I turned and headed back up the stairs. After I'd taken a shower in our one bathtub it was past eleven and I was dead tired, but I couldn't get to sleep until Esme shuffled back into her bedroom. There were only two bedrooms in this place, and they were Carlisle and Esme's room and Alice's room. Emmett and I slept in the living room. He was usually up until two or three in the morning working out before he'd finally drop to sleep to get his three-and-a-half hours of quality time with his ratty old pillow.

"Esme," I said, prodding her again.

"What is it this time?" she snapped at me.

"I've got to get to bed."

"There's the recliner," she said, nodding toward the filthy garbage that was our furniture now.

I thought about just taking the vacant bed in her room, but I wasn't sure when Carlisle would be getting back. He'd gone out of town to see about a job selling electric toothbrushes door to door. Who knows how that would turn out?

"I usually sleep on the couch," I said, hoping she might take the subtle hint graciously.

No such luck. "Well la-dee-dah!" She turned toward the inside of the couch and started snoring again.

I took a shabby, withering blanket and curled up in the floral-patterned recliner and listened to Alice singing musical numbers with her ponies until I finally drifted off to sleep.

The next day was as terrible as I knew it would be. Every time Mike or one of his loyal followers had the chance to make fun of me, they did.

But finally there was some good to look forward to. In Biology, as she said she would, Bella brought me an application for the intern stint down at the station. I was looking forward to the opportunity to put my brain to some use and to get paid for it. Another plus was that I wouldn't have to wreak of greasy flash-fried potatoes or frozen rotten "beef" patties on my way home from work anymore.

"Thanks," I said as she handed it over.

"I know you'll be the one to get the job. All you have to do is take it to Charlie after school. Think you can do it?" she laughed.

I nodded.

"Really, thanks," I insisted.

"You're welcome. I look forward to being able to see you after school as well as in Biology."

"After school?" I asked.

"Yeah. I work there sometimes too. Plus, I take dinner to the station a lot. The guys are always begging for some good ol' fashioned home cooking. I hope you like pork chops. That's what's on the menu tonight." She looked so pretty when she giggled and smiled.

"Love them," I said with a grin.

It was hard to focus the rest of the day. I hauled it as soon as the bell to last period rang. I gathered everything I needed from my locker to finish my homework and booked it to the police station. I straightened myself up as much as possible before grasping the application nervously and walking into the little building.

"Can I help you?" asked a lady behind a desk.

"Hello. My name is Edward Cullen. I have…"

"Right," she interrupted. "You have an appointment with the Chief. Have a seat. I'll let him know you're here."

"Thanks," I said.

I sat in one of the small plastic waiting chairs in the little lobby of the station.

"Hey there," came an enthusiastic Southern drawl. "Name's Jasper," said a blond kid, probably my age, as he extended his hand toward me. He was dressed in business slacks and a white dress shirt.

"Edward," I said as I shook his hand.

"I'm the other intern," he said. "When do you start?"

"I'm not sure. I don't even know if I have the job yet."

"What are you talking about? Of course you have the job. Do you start tonight? It would be mighty nice to not have to sort out all the paperwork alone at the end of the shift."

"I hope you're right."

His smile grew and he laughed. "I'm always right. Besides, I just happened to know a little lady who put in a good word for you."

"Bella?"

"Yup. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. But then again, what little girlie doesn't? I think she's putting a little more meat on the grill for dinner tonight. She's so sure you've got the job, you know. I can tell ya' this: if she's sure then we all have reason to be sure."

"Mr. Cullen?" said the receptionist. "The Chief is ready for you. He's back in his office." She pointed to the double doors behind her.

I walked down a long hallway. At the end there was a little name plaque on the door. Chief Swan, it read. I tapped lightly on the door.

"Come in."

He was sitting at his desk, writing over some old files.

"Have a seat Edward. I'll be with you in just a second."

I took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs in front of his desk and waited patiently. I looked around to find a picture of him and Bella. They were holding a fishing pole together with a large bass hanging from the hook. There was an American flag in a shadowbox frame, which was mounted next to a copy of the Declaration of Independence. There were piles of manila envelopes all over his desk and mismatched pens all over the place.

"We've been working on this case for months," he muttered. "It's been kept under wraps for the most part, but I'll tell you this: someone in this town has robbed seven banks in this state. The trail always leads us to Forks, but once we get here, in my own home town, it all runs dry. You'd be right if you guessed that this is quite an embarrassing situation for me and Fork's finest. We've never let a murder go unsolved, or even allowed a dog to be off its leash. So, for something like this to be dragging out so long… well… it's just terrible."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said.

"Yeah, well… we'll get it figured out. We always catch the bad guy around here. So, Edward, tell me," he took my application and laid it down on the desk without even giving it so much as a glance, "When can you start?"

Jackpot!

"Uh… now?"

"Good. Go find Jasper Whitlock. He'll get you all fixed up."

That was it. I was now working for Bella's dad at the police station. Could things really be just that simple?

...

A/N: My Little Ponies and Barbies are little girls toys that have been around for as long as I can remember. I played with them and my daughter plays with them today. By the way, I didn't make up the names of the ponies. I just googled a list of names. They had pictures of each of them next to the name. It's true what Edward says: that Bay Breeze looks like a "squatting dog struggling to take a dump." Don't believe me? Look for yourself! ;)