Disclaimer: Thanks to Stephenie Meyer for creating Twilight and V.C. Andrews for inspiration on the plot via Dawn.

Thank you for all your reviews on the last chapter! Ya'll are the best! Most of you didn't just write something like, "That was great!" but instead, you wrote much more insightful things. You wrote things that confirmed to me that you're actually reading Legacy. One very important question will be answered in this chapter that a LOT of you have been asking. I've just been ignoring it in your comments until now. I couldn't tell you ahead of time, sillies!


On Monday I wore the shirt Alice had bought for me to school. Jasper's little midget was right – the shirt did bring out the color of my eyes. Damn her. In the morning I passed Alice in the hallway on the way to English. When she saw me wearing the shirt she smiled and clapped like I expected.

The girl is just too damn happy for her own good. It's almost sickening.

"Eddie! It looks great on you!" Alice embraced me in a hug. Some of the other kids were gawking at us. I felt like flipping them the bird and telling them to bug off. "It fits just perfectly on you!"

"You're a sneaky little midget." I put my arm around her shoulders while we walked down the hallway. "No more clothes, Midg."

"Oh, come on Eddie!" She lowered her voice so no one else could hear. For extra measure she walked on her tip toes in an attempt to get closer to me. She tugged at the leg of my well worn jeans. "You could use some new pants. High waters are not in style."

"No, Midg. I repeat, no." I sighed. Somewhere, deep down, I knew she wasn't going to listen to me. "Please do not buy me anything else. It's bad enough that Emmett paid for the movie and dinner for me. I'm not a girl; I wasn't his date. Please, do not start buying clothes for me. I don't want to be a leech."

"You're not a leech!" She said the words a little too loud and a few kids looked in our direction. Smiling, she continued with a lowered voice. "Besides, I discovered that you and Jasper are the same size."

"Oh, no." My head fell forward in silent defeat.

"I can get clothes for you any time I want." Alice sang, thankfully, quietly.

"Then just buy clothes for Jasper." I looked at her and attempted to plaster on my most serious face. "I'm going to try to find a part-time job. That way, I can slowly get whatever I need."

"But, you don't need to get a new wardrobe slowly when you have me!" She exclaimed happily. We stopped outside of her classroom.

"Mary Alice Cullen." I was pulling out all the stops. Emmett had mentioned that Alice went by her middle name and I used my knowledge to my advantage. "Do not buy clothes for me."

Alice gasped and planted a fist on her hip. "Why… you! How'd you know my full name?!"

"I'll never tell." I sung the words for the hell of it. "For future reference, my middle name is Anthony."

Alice gave me an evil look and then caved. "Fine, I won't buy you any more clothes." I could tell she was pouting. Knowing Alice, she would keep trying to cook up other ways to update my wardrobe.

"Thank you for cooperating with me, Midg." I smiled at her. "I gotta haul ass to class. See you at lunch."

She stuck her tongue out at me as I was leaving. I flipped her the bird over my shoulder.

I met with my guidance counselor—whose name I still can't remember—and asked about dropping Spanish for a study hall. After three years in Spanish I could read the language better than I could speak it. It took me too long to translate everything in my head. By the time I had figured out how I wanted to respond in a conversation, class was long over. I didn't need the credit and I thought that as graduation approached I could use the extra time to study for exams. In order to accommodate my schedule I had to change my English class to first period. When I told Emmett about the change his face lit up like a Christmas tree. Turns out, I'd be in the same class with him and Rosalie.

I was starting to think that maybe fate wasn't such a cruel and miserable bitch after all. It just likes to pull the carpet out from under you at times and point and watch as you fall on your ass. Stupid fate.

My mom got the job at the Thriftway grocery store. I ended up applying there as well. The manager, Cameron, told me that they didn't have any regular openings. I was a bit confused so I questioned him further. In a town the size of Forks you don't need a huge grocery store. Hence, the unfortunate lack my all time favorite store, Wal-Mart. I could go on a huge rave about how much I love Wal-Mart but I'll spare you the gory details. Cameron said they could use someone for a few hours a couple times a week or someone to fill in for others. I'd get fewer hours than the other part-timers.

My first job ever started the next day. I only worked two and a half hours. I stocked some shelves and swept the aisles. Cameron gave me a schedule and he talked about training me to work the register. I secretly hoped that the training wouldn't happen. That would mean I'd have to deal with people. I was totally content with stocking shelves, bagging, sweeping, cleaning the bottle room and pushing carts in the parking lot. They were all things that could be done without necessarily talking to others. I told Cameron that I went straight to a friends house a lot of days after school. I gave him Emmett's cell phone number in case they needed me to work at the last minute. Thankfully, when I told Emmett about the situation, he was cool with it.

I made sure to talk to Emmett about the store contacting him when Alice wasn't around. Otherwise, I'm sure she'd offer to buy me a cell phone. She only promised not to buy me clothes; we hadn't confronted my electronics issues and I didn't want to.

One day, late in October, I was in the kitchen of the Cullen's house with Emmett. We were sitting on a pair of stools at the counter, flipping through some of Emmett's car magazines when Alice glided down the stairs. She had a digital camera in her hand and she was humming. Oh, joy.

"Eddie, we don't have any pictures of you!"

"Ah, Midg." I didn't like to have my picture taken. I wasn't sure why. I held a book over my face to block it. "You can't take it, when it develops, I won't show up."

"You're not a vampire." Alice leaned across the counter and grabbed the book from my hands. "I think you have the mythology wrong anyway. Isn't it vampires and mirrors?"

I stuck my tongue out at her. She snapped a picture at that moment and I grimaced. That'd be a great piece of nostalgia.

Emmett chuckled next to me. "Let's just get the torture over with."

He put an arm around my shoulder and I attempted to do the same. I couldn't reach all the way around him and my hand ended up barely grasping his shoulder. We both smiled to please Alice. She snapped the picture and was happy with the preview. Alice danced back up stairs to rejoin Bella and Rosalie.

"Where's Jasper?" I asked.

"He's at his Civil War re-enactment meeting down in Seattle." Emmett rolled his eyes.

No fucking way!

I was trying not to laugh. I knew Jasper was into History, but I didn't realize he participated in re-enactments. That's a hardcore history buff. "A Civil War re-enactment, are you serious?"

The girls noisily made their way down the stairs. Alice announced that they were going to the drug store to develop some pictures. I secretly hoped the developing machine was not working.

"Emmett, can I ask you something?" I asked nervously.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, anything Edward."

"Why did you have Bella ask me to join your table for lunch?" I ran my fingers through my hair. I was sure it was standing straight up in all different directions. I could never tame my hair no matter how hard I tried.

"You seemed like a cool kid from Photography." He took no time to form his answer.

"Me? Cool?" I snorted. "What are you high on?"

"I've never done a drug in my life." I shrugged so he continued. "Wait, I tried pot once, hated it and never went near it again."

That was an honest and unexpected answer if I ever heard one.

"You weren't afraid to talk to me," he continued. "Most kids at school are intimidated by me. You talked back and joked with me. If you didn't notice, your entire bit on why I failed kindergarten cracked me up. Shit man, did I not play well with others?" He punched me in the arm and I tried not to wince. "Like I said, you seemed like you were alright. I had a good feeling about you, ya know? Bella saw you sitting by yourself and asked if anyone knew who the new kid was. I told her that I had met you and told her about you. I suggested that she go and ask you to join us. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"I'm not cool." I stated simply. "I just happen to hang with the cool kids."

"You hang with the cool kids, thus, you are cool." He said convincingly.

I raised my eyebrow at him. It wasn't always that easy. "You're insane."

"Thank you! I appreciate your diagnosis, Dr. Masen."

"How long have you and Bella been going out?" I didn't want to make it feel like I was digging and being nosy. I was just curious.

"Me and Bella?" Emmett almost doubled over. "We're not dating!"

"You're not?" I tried to suppress any look of surprise or shock on my face. It was hard to do because that's how I was feeling. "I thought you two were an item."

"No, we've been best friends since she was five." His brow furrowed curiously. "I never thought of her that way. We've know each other for so long that we're comfortable with each other. To put my arm around Bella as we're walking down the hallway is just second nature for me. I guess it's also my way of attempting to protect her from certain unwanted advances."

"Oh." I was a little shocked and unsure of what to say next. "I feel kind of stupid for assuming that the two of you were dating all this time."

"Why? Did you want to ask her out? I know she's been flirting with you."

"No, no, I don't date." I shook my head vehemently. "We never stay in one place long enough."

"Understandable. You might want to tell her to stop grinding her ass into your crotch when she gets out of the Jeep then."

"Shit, you saw that?" I didn't think he knew. I felt more embarrassed that he had known what she had done to me.

"I'm not stupid and I've got eyes." Emmett winked at me. "I'm pretty damn sure that Bella has the hots for you. That or she just loves messing with your head. But, I honestly don't think she's like that. Back in sixth grade we fooled around under the bleachers. She let my hands wander up her skirt, if you know what I mean." He smiled mischievously at the memory. "A few days later she straight up told me that she didn't think we should do something like that again. I was too much like a big brother to her. I respect her wishes. I had a fun time feelin' her up in sixth grade though."

"I bet." Emmett got to do what I've only fantasized about. Lucky guy, even if it was back when he was twelve.

Our conversation stalled right then because I didn't know what else to say. I had started to like Bella but my mind told me to stop. I thought she was Emmett's girlfriend. Now that I knew otherwise, it didn't make my situation any better. It was bad enough that I had made friends. I didn't want to get involved with someone romantically and have to leave them behind. I couldn't do that to someone else. Hell, I couldn't do that to myself. I was protecting myself as much as anyone else from a broken heart.

That would totally suck ass. Oh, crap, I'm stealing Bella's favorite saying. Fuck.

At least I didn't have to feel guilty anymore. I had countless naughty thoughts that crossed my mind about Bella. So many that, if I was Catholic, I'd have to go to confession every day and I'd still be going to hell.

"Do you have any idea about Rosalie then?"

"What about Rose?" Emmett questioned. "For some reason she's single, do you like her?"

His eyes must not function as well as he thinks. Emmett seemed totally oblivious to the gazes that Rosalie focused on him.

"I'm pretty damn sure that Rosalie has a crush on you." I informed him.

"What? Rose? What? No!" He leaned closer to me. "Do you really think so? Really?"

Nope, he had no clue whatsoever. I reminded him that we were at his house and not the cafeteria. There was no need for him to lean in close to me so that no one could hear our conversation. He apologized and moved back to his original spot.

"You never caught her staring at you?" I was hoping that sharing my knowledge would help the two of them and not ruin anything. "I noticed it the first day."

"Really?" He had his usual shit-eating grin on his face. "Damn, I never noticed. How could I have never noticed?! I'm such an asshole! She's been kind of flirting with you too, so I thought she was competing with Bella."

"Pft," I laughed out loud at the stupidity of his statement. "I'm sure that Rose doesn't have any interest in me. I think she was trying to make you jealous. Do you want me to talk to her and test the waters?"

"Oh man, that'd be great! Do it on the sly though, ya know?" Emmett was really enthusiastic about the entire Rosalie situation now. "She's a great girl, really. I never thought she'd be interested in me."

I tried not to snort because I hated doing that. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't she be interested in you? You're the most popular guy in school."

"Oh, please. Popularity is highly overrated in my book. Do you know how many true friends I have?"

"No, how many?" I asked curiously. He must have tons of friends. The kids at school were always flocked around him. What's the saying? Like a moth to a flame and Emmett was a damn bonfire.

"Bella, Jasper, Rose, my own sister and you." He informed me. I was honored that, after a short amount of time, he considered me a true friend. "I'll talk to anyone that talks to me if they don't want something from me. That's the problem though; most kids at school just want something. I'm tired of people wanting to be my friend so they can use me." Emmett paused and looked like he was struggling with what to say next. "I might as well tell you something. I'm sure no one else has already. Did you know that technically, I'm a millionaire?"

Holy hell on wheat toast! That would explain a lot of things, like not batting an eye at buying me and Bella tickets to the movies. Hell, what's an additional thirty bucks spent on a movie and pizza when you have millions of dollars? It's just a drop in the bucket for a millionaire.

I was so shocked that I had a hard time forming an intelligent sentence. "Say what?"

At least that was better than my first thought of 'Whatcho talkin' about, Emmett?'

He rose from his stool and pushed it back under the counter. "I've never given you the grand tour of the house. Come on and I'll explain."

Emmett led me to the second floor where his room was. He popped open the doors of his parents bedroom, a study and a bathroom. Then I followed him up to the third floor where Alice's room is. I took a peek inside and found it to be pretty much the way I imagined. Everything looked expensive, designer and just plain 'girl pretty'. She had a huge closet which I'm sure is filled with the latest expensive designer clothes. Emmett showed me a modest guest room and another bathroom. Next to the bathroom door, and before the next one, hung an oil painting of an old man. He was portrayed with vibrant green eyes, bald and rugged looking, perhaps even distinguished.

"That is my grandfather, Anthony Cullen. He's dead." Emmett informed me. "I don't remember anything first hand about him. Grandfather died when I was only six months old. He was very old fashioned. From the stories I've heard, Grandfather Cullen reminded me of an old, blue-blooded aristocrat. You know the type of person that wants to keep his family legacy going like it's the most important thing in the world. Legacy schmegacy. When I was younger and curious, I looked up legacy in the dictionary. By definition it's a gift of property or money by bequest or anything handed down from the past from an ancestor. Don't ask me how I've remembered that. It's the first part of the meaning that so many rich people get wrapped up in—the money. The fact that you can pass on something to the next generation of your family is what's important. And I'm not talking about money. Your attitude, eye and hair color, mannerisms, good heart or a trait. What makes you, you. I guess that'd be your genes. I'd much rather have my father's compassion then a fugly ass painting from the 1700s that's worth millions of dollars."

"That's deep, Emmett." I was taken back by his words. "You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?"

Emmett leaned against the wall and smiled. "I guess I've wondered at times what my life would be like without my grandfather's legacy. In my grandfather's will, he split everything between four of us. My grandmother, Camilla, was well taken care of. Then there were his sons, my father Carlisle and his brother, Tony. Lastly, his male grandchildren were to inherit a bunch of money. That'd be me." He pointed to his chest with his thumb to emphasize his words. "His will stipulated that if any male grandchildren were to be born within ten years of his death, Grandmother Camilla's portion of her inheritance was to be cut and they were to receive an amount equal to mine. I know the old bag didn't like that one. I bet she was glad that Uncle Tony's wife spit out two girls and my mom had Alice."

"You called your grandmother an 'old bag'; I'm guessing she's not very likable?"

"Unlikable is the nicest way I've ever heard her described." Emmett sighed and glanced at the painting on the wall before turning back to me. "When your own kids don't send you a mother's day card, invite you to Christmas dinner or visit you in general, it's bad. My dad and Uncle Tony went into the medical field. Their specialties are cardiology and internal medicine. I once heard dad arguing with Grandmother because she was embarrassed that her two sons went into such a profession. She wanted them to be investment bankers, high power CEOs or something like that. You know, she doesn't think that saving lives is important. I haven't seen the woman in at least twelve years. I don't even remember why I saw her when I did. My father detested her even back then. I don't know even the last time my father visited her. His nickname for her is 'The Wicked Witch'."

"Wow." It was all I could muster. "Does she live around here?"

He shrugged. "Last I knew she lived in the suburbs of Portland."

"Shit, that's messed up."

"Tell me about it. Alice didn't inherit anything. I'm glad that my father thought to invest some money for her. My inheritance was in a trust. I still don't have total access to it until I'm twenty-one. Any withdrawals have to be cleared with my father first. But I have a say in how I want it to be invested now."

The light bulb above my head went off. "Oh, so that's how you can afford to buy things but I don't see you going out and buying crazy amounts of things."

"I don't need a lot of shit anyway. If I want to treat a friend, I can." He smiled at me. "If I wanted to buy a car or something else that's big, it's gotta go through my Dad. I get some money pumped into my bank account every month."

"Sweet."

"Yeah, I guess so. My Dad makes sure that we give to charities and give back to the community. At Thanksgiving we put together baskets of food and every Christmas we go to the children's wing at the hospital. Dad dresses up as Santa Clause and we pass out presents to the kids. Hey, wanna join us this year? Jasper, Alice and Bella always join us and help out. We can always use another elf. It's really fun."

I was almost speechless at their generosity. "Count me in." I nodded.

Emmett made me promise not to mention any of what was said about his family to anyone else. I agreed instantly. I'm not sure if anyone would believe the things about his Grandmother anyway. We were about to head back downstairs when I remembered that he hadn't shown me what was behind the door all the way to the left.

"Oh, that room." Emmett's brow was furrowed. "What the hell is one more family secret amongst friends?"

He led me over to the door and he tested the door knob. He seemed surprised when it opened and we stood in the doorway. The room was very large but almost bare and decorated in a palette of beiges. The walls were light, almost tan. There was a full size bed which had a dark coffee bean colored comforter on it. An oak dresser was against one wall with a comfortable looking coffee colored couch next to it. The glass window, which Emmett had a view from a floor below, continued up and ended just inches from the ceiling.

"This room… how the hell do I explain this room?" Emmett questioned for a moment. "The last time I tried the door knob it was locked. For years I thought this was another guest room but I never saw anyone use it. Even when we had too many guests to fit in the other room, my mother insisted that no one ever stay in here. She's kept it decorated over the years in various ways. When I was younger, the décor mimicked my own room. As I grew up and matured, this room changed as much as mine did. I don't know why and was always afraid to ask. I often wondered if my mother had miscarried before having me and couldn't bring herself to tell us. I think it was her way to deal with the loss."

"I guess that makes sense." It made me sad to think of Esme in this room, decorating it for a baby that was never born. "Don't worry, Emmett. I won't tell anyone what you told me today. I'm sure every family has its own secrets."

I wondered if my family had any secrets I didn't know about. I couldn't think of what they'd be. My parents had always been so honest about everything. I couldn't imagine them keeping anything from me.

Emmett closed the door and we headed toward the stairs. "That's a relief. I really don't want to have to bury you in the basement with all my other ex-friends. Those bastards just couldn't keep their mouths shut."


You know what I'm gonna say - if you liked it, please comment! Feed me and make me want to write more! In fact, if you like Legacy, please consider recommending it to a fellow fan fic friend. If you have your own theories or ideas as to what is going on, please don't post your entire reveal in your review. I don't know how many people actually read comments for a story, but it could ruin the plotline for someone who isn't on the same track as you. Feel free to PM to tell me your theories or ask questions.