Chapter Three
The Cullens were all very nice, that's true, but being cooped up in the house all day was giving me a serious case of cabin fever. I sighed. Alice and Bella had driven to the nearest town – a hundred and fifty miles away – to go book shopping a week ago. With Alice involved and a list of about twelve books that I wanted, I wound up with over a hundred.
Some of them I'd never heard of, but some of them were mine… literally. Apparently while Bella was browsing in the books, looking for a new copy of Wuthering Heights (hers was falling apart), Alice had darted the sixty-odd miles further south to my old house and picked up a box of my books and some of my clothes.
How she managed to find my house, I'll never know, but she's been bugging me about my apparent lack of fashion sense ever since she got back. I really wish she would just leave me alone sometimes. I'm an academic, not a fashionista. I don't care about my clothes much.
At least I'm not wearing clothes that don't fit anymore, even if they are just jeans, plain T-shirts and sweatshirts.
Being a five-foot-ten fourteen-year-old was tough, and since Rosalie was the tallest of the Cullen girls (and I was an inch taller than her!), I'd been relying on lengthened sweatpants that weren't uncomfortable, but let's just say I was glad to have my clothes back. How many zillions of designer clothes does one person – pardon me, vampire – need?
Comfortable clothes aside, though, I've got to start doing something other than sitting and reading – how odd! I remember faking sick once last year (only last year?) because it was long run day in PE and I wanted to read. My human memories are fading quickly, like they're supposed to be….
It's ironic. Now that I have unlimited time to do just that, sit and do nothing but read, the books don't catch my attention as they used to.
Bella poked her head into the room that the Cullens gave me. She's the one I can most identify with, and I think she empathizes with me, although, as she puts it, "I knew how to deal with Emmett before I was changed." I beat him in an arm-wrestling match last week. Bella says she did that when she was changed, too, so it's nothing to worry about. He's not getting weak.
The thrill of having a new life is wearing off. Since I got here, I haven't broached the subject, but… I was jolted from my thoughts with a "Courtney, do you want to come play baseball? Edward and Jasper need someone on their team."
"Aren't you playing?"
She smiled. "I trip a lot when I run."
"I thought vampires were supposed to be graceful and all."
"Shh! It's my excuse. Edward still thinks I'm human!"
"Whatever you say. Sure, I'll play. Let me get out of my sweatpants."
Alice popped in, too. What was this, Hold a Convention in Courtney's Room Day? I didn't get to ruminate on that thought much, though, as she told me, "Don't change, otherwise you'll end up ripping that new pair of jeans I bought you. Don't think I didn't notice!" She put on a mock-outraged face.
"Yes, ma'am."
Alice, or She Who Knows No Bounds When Presented With A New Little Sister To Shop For, gave me a cheeky grin. "Come on!" She didn't wait for me to say that I wasn't wearing shoes. Oh, well – I'll survive. It's not like I'll get cut on a rock or anything.
Once outside, I was presented with a gathering of six other vampires, given that Bella and Alice walked down with me.
Rosalie and Emmett stood off to the side, tossing a leather-covered ball back and forth. Carlisle was also throwing it back and forth between Jasper and Edward – some kind of bizarre three-cornered catch game with no conceivable pattern.
Alice hurtled over to join the triangular game of catch, and Bella walked over to sit with Esme, perched on a rocky overhang.
I dashed after Alice. "Wait up!" She slowed slightly and turned towards the rocks.
"Bella…"
Apparently Bella knows what Alice means when she starts talking in a certain tone of voice, because she immediately replied, "Alice, I don't want to play."
Emmett let out another one of his laughs. "What, afraid you're going to trip? I thought we got past human clumsiness twelve years ago."
Hearing the Cullens toss around decades and yes, centuries, in such a casual way always made my head spin. I managed to put the nagging thought that I would likely start doing so as well eventually out of my head.
We fell into our respective teams and fielding positions. It was plain that if we had been closer to humans (we were quite a ways away from any towns, as the Cullens had "disappeared off the face of the earth" after Bella was changed and were just in the process of getting ready to move when I'd come along), we would have been getting police in – especially when Emmett and Alice managed to collide.
Two hours, two impromptu wrestling matches between Edward, Jasper, and Emmett, and a lost baseball later (it fell into the lake when I couldn't catch Emmett's hit and none of us wanted to go after it), our game was over.
"You know, Bella, I don't think of you as human still," Edward mentioned casually as we all walked in to the house.
"I thought you couldn't read my mind!" she cried. "Do I not get privacy in my own head?" She was grinning as she said it, though.
"He probably heard it from me," I volunteered.
He nodded smiling at Bella. I walked up the stairs and found my ancient old copy of The Wizard of Oz. I'd had it for eight years before I was changed, and Alice said "she had to bring it back because it was pretty obvious it'd been read too many times."
Well, duh, Alice – if the spine slumps open to a certain page when it's opened (more specifically, the poppy field scene), it's been read a few times. I didn't mind, though. I flipped through it, but set it back down. Dorothy and the Tin Man seemed so… childish right now.
I wandered into Jasper's "study." He looked up from the large book lying on the table he was bent over. As it was laid flat, I couldn't see what it was, but he looked up. "Research."
I nodded. "Um, do you know where Alice is?"
He shook his head. "Why?"
"I'm bored, and I figured Alice would have something to do. She's not exactly a person who sits around being bored."
He smiled. "Sorry, I don't know where she is. Would you like to borrow a book or something?"
"Nah. I love to read and all, but I can only read for twenty-four hours straight or so before I… Alice!"
Tiny pixies of girls shouldn't be able to climb through windows, whispered my still-partly-human brain. Especially not windows on the third floor!
Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Not using the door? I thought Edward was the one who climbed in through windows."
She laughed and glanced at me. "Courtney."
"Present."
"I had a vision…"
I groaned. "Does it involve me being made into Barbie?"
She rolled her eyes. "Come on, it'll be fun. At least let me do something to your hair – you have leaves stuck in it."
"So?"
She towed me into the bathroom attached to her bedroom. Pulling my battered scrunchie from my dark, uncontrollably curly hair, she grabbed a brush.
When I emerged, my hair was miraculously under control. Alice had pulled it back into a thick braid and let me go, saying she wanted to spend some time with Jasper and that she didn't want to confine me (here she winked) past my patience.
Still wandering, I slipped out the front door. Esme was on her knees in the dirt, digging perfectly sized holes and planting delicate blush pink flowers in them.
When she looked up, she grinned. "Want to help?"
It was better than being bored, but gardening at vampire speed doesn't take nearly as long as it did at a human's. We finished in less than ten minutes.
Esme looked at me, eyes seeming to look at me differently than before. "Are you all right, Courtney?"
"Yeah, I guess. Um, Esme, who found me after the accident?"
"Carlisle."
"Thank you."
I left, leaving her slightly perplexed.
I found Carlisle in his study, reading a medical textbook. "Hey, Carlisle."
He smiled when he saw me. "Hello, Courtney. What can I do for you?"
"Are my parents still alive?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Blunt, aren't you?"
"Yep. Do you know?"
"Yes. Your mother is still in intensive care at a hospital a few hundred miles from here. Your funeral was two days ago. Your mom and dad are going to leave the area as soon as she's well enough to travel and your little brother's school arrangements can be organized."
I sagged with relief. Whew. "How did they hold a funeral without a body?"
He shrugged. "Someone in town mentioned the funeral. I didn't press as I'm not supposed to know who you are."
I nodded. "Carlisle…"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you. For telling me, I mean."
I left after that, Carlisle looking indulgently after me. For all that the man is only in his mid-twenties physically, and a vampire, I don't think I'll ever meet his equal in compassion. If it was fate that I was changed into a vampire, I'm glad Carlisle was the one who did it.
I went upstairs and snagged my old copy of William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Curling up on the squishy leather couch downstairs, I opened the thick book randomly.
Romeo and Juliet. No. Although I loved it, I was already depressed.
Hamlet. Nope. Not in the mood for a grisly ending, thanks.
Macbeth. Sheesh! What was it with the book opening to the tragedies?
Much Ado About Nothing. Yay! Something not sad!
Before I could even get past the first scene, I was restless. I put it down and stood up. Something in me was making me uncomfortable, and I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe Jasper could tell me?
When I entered the room, Jasper and Alice were talking quietly. I cleared my throat, and Alice looked up. "Hey!"
"Hi, Alice. Jasper, can I ask you a favor?"
"I suppose so. What can I do?"
"Can you tell me what I'm feeling?"
"Excuse me?" I suppose that did sound a bit demented.
He obliged me, though, closing his eyes to concentrate better. He looked at me appraisingly. "How long have you been here?"
I had to think. Not being able to measure by night and day, I was forced to look at a calendar. "Two weeks?"
He nodded. "Let me go find Emmett. He and Rosalie are fine-tuning the Jeep."
"Why do we need Emmett?"
"You're thirsty. Have you been feeling this way for long?"
"Yeah," I admitted shamefacedly. "Sorry."
"Don't be. It'll get better eventually."
With Emmett in tow and the rest of the Cullens knowing where we were going, I set off with Jasper.
I don't know why I like being around Jasper, I mused as we ran. Maybe it's because he respects me; he knows I don't like being around too many people at once. But he and Alice are the ones I've spent the most time with here. Or maybe it's because he knows what I'm feeling and he can understand it…
A whiff of something floated on the breeze. Emmett, looking at me, motioned. He was grinning.
"Grizzly bear?" I guessed.
He nodded, a happy expression plastered on his open face. "A grumpy one."
"How do you know?"
"Practice."
"Right," I said as I took off running, following my food.
As I sat, covered in the blood from two bears, something snapped. I started to dry-sob, and Emmett hurtled over. He may not be as fast as Edward, but he's still pretty quick.
"What's wrong, Courtney?"
"I'm never going to see my parents again. My mum's in the ICU. My funeral was yesterday. I'm going to spend the rest of my life drinking bear blood. I won't be able to see my little brother ever again! And you ask me what's wrong?"
"Chill, Courtney. I'm not Edward, so I can't read minds, and I'd appreciate you not yelling at me. Now, slow down and we'll talk. I'm here for you. We all are!
"I can't do much about your parents or your little brother, but I went through the same thing. So did Rosalie. We both left parents and siblings. Jasper had a little sister and his parents, too.
"And yeah, it hurts, but trust me, it'll get better. Don't go into denial or anything, and remember that little brothers are a pain in the butt sometimes. I would know – I was one!" He laughed. "Seriously, though, I wouldn't say forget your family, but your memories of them will fade. Most of mine have, although I can still remember a couple of tricks I played on my older sisters."
He paused, a pensive expression on his face suddenly. We'd somehow gone from standing in the middle of a forest to sitting on a rock. We weren't so deep into our conversation that we'd just forget where we were, were we?
"The blood thing gets easier, so don't worry. We'll get you through it. We're not going to let you turn into a murderer. With the whole funeral thing, well, funerals aren't fun. We'll have to fake a death in about ten years. I think Alice is due to die next. And we'll all go to her funeral."
"But Emmett, my parents. Won't they be awfully sad?"
"Of course. Wouldn't you be? But they'll live their lives, probably to benefit your little brother. What's his name?"
"Zander."
"That's quite… unusual."
"He doesn't like Alexander, so he shortened it."
"I see. Is there anything else you'd like to rant at me about?"
"Umm, is it true I'll have to go through high school more than once?"
"Yeah. That's how we met Bella."
"Joy. More math."
"Ask Edward for help. He's pretty good with numbers." He grinned. "Give me a football any day!"
"Thanks, Emmett. For everything."
"Nah, it's nothing. Should we go back?"
"Yeah."
I'm on a roll, people! And it's a croissant! I love croissants.
Well! I'm actually amazed that I can write this fast. I don't think I've ever written this much in a week. It's therapeutical, and I feel quite loved due to the reviews.
I've been getting some really positive feedback for this story, and even though I might not mention you by name, if you've reviewed my story, I thank you. It sounds cheesy, but a review alert e-mail made me get off my sniffly, weeping butt and write. It made my hellish day better, although I'd welcome any constructive criticism!
And just for the record, while I was listening to this I had Requiem for a Tower on repeat. Not necessarily mood music for the chapter, but it fit mine.
-Star