Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the characters that I made up out of scratch. All original plotlines and characters belong to Stephenie Meyer and L. J. Smith, both of whom are amazing! :D
I would like to thank everyone who helped me make this chapter better (Especially a certain Ms. Randomness :D) Enjoy and review please!
3rd chapter will be written in a few days....up by next week? Let's hope so.... :D
I trudge up the stairs, my bag trailing behind me. I'm halfway to my room when I hear a tiny, bell-like voice call my name, and just as suddenly my little sister is jumping around my feet waving a piece of paper in my face.
"Bella! Bella, look! I made you a painting!" Renesmee says, holding up a piece of paper with a rainbow of blobs. I smile and pick her up, and carry her into my room along with my bag and her painting. I plop Nessie onto the bed, the bag onto the floor, and carefully examine the painting.
"It's…very pretty Nessie! Is it…flowers?" I guess carefully. She giggles, and nods her tiny head enthusiastically.
"Aren't they pretty Bella?" I nod while laughing along with her. I watch my little sister as she continues to paint little blobs that are supposed to be cats now. Her little fingers flex around the paintbrush as she dips it into the paint, and her eyebrows scrunch up as she concentrates. The sunlight plays in her hair turning her dark brown hair to red. Almost as red as Edward's, my mind says. I shake the thought away, and occupy myself by laying out some newspapers so she doesn't get paint on the floor. She smiles up at me in that sparkly way of hers, with her chocolate brown eyes that are so like my own that they could have been photocopied there, and my mind wanders back to the accident.
"Bella, stop texting and listen to me!" my dad said from the front seat. I looked up from the screen of my phone irritably.
"I'm listening dad," I replied. I glared at him, almost burning a hole in the rear-view mirror. Didn't he understand at all? Harry was so close to asking me to homecoming, and here he was yelling at me for trying to get a life!
"I don't appreciate your attitude, young lady. Would it have killed you to act civilly towards your cousins?" his eyes flashed with what I then thought to be anger.
"Dad, it's not my fault if Sabrina has tacky clothes. Or if Nina can't sing for a dime. I don't have to be nice to these people I barely know; it's not like they're my friends." I rolled my eyes. "Now can we please not talk about this anymore? I just want to-"
I flash back to my sister tugging on my sleeve. I shake my head slightly and look down at her with a smile.
"Bella, I'm out of paint!" Ness's eyes start tearing up, and I hurry to console her.
"It's ok Ness, we'll get you more when we go to the store," I say, picking her up and rubbing her back.
"Promise?" she asks as she sniffles. I nod and get her a tissue, carrying her to her room and tucking her in. Nessie had only been 2 when dad died in the accident. She had sat unnoticed in her car seat as I fought for something as stupid as a trip to the mall. I carefully pull the blanket up so it rests on top of her as I think of how stupid I'd been. We had gone to Kentucky to visit my dad's side of the family. At the time, my cousins had seemed like stupid, idiotic rednecks, and I had been a city snob. They had tried to show me the farm, how to throw a rock so it jumped all the way across the lake, the works, and I had told them how lame all of it was. I had begged Dad to take me to the only mall in town, and just before we left, my cousins ratted me out for the jerk I was. My dad had been lecturing me and accidentally swerved into the wrong lane. I had woken up to Nessie's cries 30 minutes later. We had crashed into oncoming traffic, my head was bleeding, my face was scratched up as well as my arms, and my dad was dead. The door slams and I come back to the present again.
"Bells? I'm home" my mom calls from the hallway.
"Hey Mom," I reply. She takes off her coat, shoes, and comes into the living room where I'm watching T.V. and doing homework. Her light brown hair is ruffled from the wind and her eyes are tired, but happy and open. My mom is tall and thin just like me. Her long hand with the thin fingers reaches out to ruffle my hair and she smiles as she walks past me to the kitchen.
"How was school?" she calls to me with the clanging of pots and pans as background noise.
"Fine," I say while flicking through channels. News, boring, soaps, more news, football, boring. I turn the T.V. off and walk into the kitchen where my mom is trying to make spaghetti. "Need help?" I smile and take the noodles from her hands as she sighs and slips out of the room.
Mom's not a great cook. In fact, she's absolutely horrible. Before the accident, dad had done all the cooking. I stir in some spaghetti sauce as my guilt once again makes my heart beat double time and my stomach clench. I blink my eyes to stop the tears from flowing. It has been 2 years since the accident, and the pain is still raw against my heart. I push away all the hurt feelings and concentrate on making dinner. The bad thing about cooking is, while my hands are busy, my mind is free to wander.
I flit from thoughts of the accident, to Nessie painting, to Edward's green eyes. As soon as I think of his eyes the rest of him follows quickly. His elegant gait, his strong jaw line, and the wide expanse of his forehead obscured by his strange reddish-brown hair. The tall line of his back, and the lean muscles along his arms and shoulders. His bright white smile, and the lips surrounding it. I'm startled out of my thoughts as the phone starts to ring. I turn down the stove, put the lid on, and dash to get the phone. I get it right on the 3rd ring.
"Hello?" I say.
"Hey Bells," says my brother's voice. I sigh and smile.
"Hey Gabe, how's college treating you?" I ask. Gabriel had left for college in Connecticut this past fall. He was only 2 years older than me and we were as close as a brother and sister could be. I hear his rumbling laugh at the other end and can imagine how his lips widen over his bright, white teeth and his brown eyes sparkle.
"Freshman year's a bitch, remind me never to come back," he says and I laugh at him slightly. My brother has always had a humor.
"Sure thing bro. So when you coming home?" I ask, my voice slightly chiding. My big brother had neglected to come home for Thanksgiving. Instead he had stayed to play football with his buddies and hang with his steady girlfriend, Emily.
"I know, I know, you guys are furious, but I promise I'm comin' home for Christmas! Which is why I'm calling!" He says. I wait for him to continue, but only hear him chuckle at the other end.
"Well tell me then!" I reply, laughing. I can practically see him shaking his head and shaking with laughter in his dorm at Yale.
"Alright, so we get 2 weeks off for Christmas break starting in about 17 days," he says, "so I'm going to spend the 1st week with Emily's family, and the 2nd week…me and Emily are coming home to see y'all!" I shake my head and my eyes widen.
"You guys getting serious?" I ask as my smile widens.
"Yeah Bells, we've been going steady for 5 months now. I think I'm going to ask her to marry me!" I start giggling and squealing and at the other end Gabriel starts shushing. "You can't tell anyone yet! Not even mom, I want it to be a complete surprise. Promise!" I nod stupidly as I continue giggling and then remember that Gabriel can't see me. I slap myself in the forehead mentally.
"I promise! I'm so excited for you!" I say, about to continue as Mom comes down the stairs. "Oh here comes Mom!" I turn and motion for my mom to come over. "It's Gabe," I mouth. Her face brightens and she runs over to grab the phone.
"Gabe? Oh honey I miss you so much, how are you?" she gushes. I smile and slip up the stairs to jump around in excitement for a while.