Chapter Four: Discovery
Carlisle was excited when we got home. He had, surprisingly, decided to drop his charade at work. I almost wished I had been there.
"It was hilarious. Whenever we had a patient in who had lost blood or had a blood test they needed done, I would tell the others doctors what type of blood they had without even looking at their charts. Dr. Johnson wanted to know how I was doing it, so I told him. 'It's all in the nose!' I said. He looked at me weird for the rest of the day! Some how did your guys' days go?" Carlisle was happier than I had ever seen him.
"Carlisle, it was hilarious. We ran to school, and Jacob phased inside the school! At lunch, I had forgotten my bottle, you know for my meal? So Emmett went and got it. He promised me I wouldn't have a locker door when I came back, and I didn't! It was folded into a tiny little square on the top shelf. Edward and I popped it back into shape and pounded it back on. Right after lunch, we had to run five miles, and we finished in 3 minutes. Then, right at the beginning of math, I decided we should play baseball after school. It was awesome, and Esme came to umpire. Nessie had announced it over the loudspeakers, so almost the entire school was there!" Bella broke off in a fit of laughter, and I couldn't help laughing along with her.
Popping the locker back into shape had been fun, too. But nothing could match up to the baseball game.
"Wow. What about you Jasper? You and Alice." Carlisle directed his attention towards them. Jasper's eyes were gleaming with mischief.
"Well, Carlisle, the first hilarious thing to happen was in math, 2nd period. The teacher called on Alice for an answer, but she was searching for sales coming up this weekend. The teacher said her name six times and she still didn't answer, so he came and shook her shoulder. I told him that she was dead, and he believed me for a second. Then Alice opened her eyes and said 'Jasper, you know I'm not sleeping! I'm just exploring the future. Oh, Mr. Gregory, do you think I need to study for the pop quiz next week or are my grades good enough?' Mr. Gregory's eyes popped out of his sockets and he gasped. I instantly made his feel as happy as if he were petting a fluffy unicorn. I couldn't stop laughing." Jasper said, squeezing Alice's hand.
"Yeah, Carlisle, you should have seen his face." Alice giggled, and looked at Rosalie. "We're going to Port Angeles this weekend. There's a major sale starting Saturday."
"Well, I had a ton of fun today." Emmett said, pouncing on his chance to talk. "First things first I took the door of the Spanish room off it hinges and gave it to the teacher. She couldn't talk at all. Rosalie got a kick out that. Then at lunch, I took Bella's locker door off. That gave me a ton of funny looks. Then after lunch, Rosalie and I had biology, and Rose brought her bottle with. The teacher asked what was in it, and she told him. He almost fainted when she showed him." Rosalie let a giggle escape from her lips, and then Emmett was laughing.
"Renesmee had way too much fun with her talent today. She wouldn't speak out loud at all. It baffled the teachers so much. And I phased during gym and took a nap in the middle of the field. Mr. Daniels didn't even try to make the big, bad wolf wake up. It was even funnier when Nessie came and sat with me. People looked at her as if she were trying to kill herself." Jacob's throaty laughter started, and Renesmee giggled again.
"You all seem to be having good luck with this. Keep up the good work!" Carlisle said, strolling off towards his study. "Now I'm off to do more research. See you kids later."
The next day was even funnier. I drove Emmett's Jeep to school so that people could see how high we could jump. I parked the Jeep underneath an Oak tree. Seconds later people where staring, trying to figure out what the creepy people were going to do today.
After I had got out, I leaned against the side of the Jeep. Seconds later Bella came sailing through the air and landed in the Jeep. She coiled her legs the second she landed, though, and jumped across the parking lot, landing on the steps into school. People stared. She had just jumped 50 yards.
Rosalie, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, and Renesmee followed close on her heels. I stayed where I was.
Soon I heard a howl. The humans standing on the steps turned to look at the woods, and gasped when two big wolves came racing out of the trees. Seth had come to visit us for a month, and he had arrived this morning, just 10 minutes ago.
Seth and Jacob leapt through the air and landed in the Jeep. I heard them phase, and then they jumped out. Seth howled again, perfectly mimicking the howl he had used just minutes ago.
"Howdy, Seth. How's it wagging?" Renesmee said, strolling up to punch Seth lightly on the shoulder. Seth laughed.
"Great, Nessie. Hey, Bella. What's up?" We all started walking towards the school. People stared at us again.
"Not much, Seth. How's Ireland for you? Oh, have you found the true werewolves yet?" Bella asked. Seth had gone over to Ireland to look for the real werewolves that Marcus had talked about 150 years ago when Nessie was born. Seth wanted to figure out how different they were.
"Oh, yeah. I found them all right, and man are they scary! They are smaller than us, but more vicious. They almost ripped me to shreds when I phased to show them what I was. But I got them to like me, so now if we ever need powerful allies, I know 13 werewolves." Seth grinned.
"See you all at lunch!" I shouted. Seth was going to be going to school here for the month, and I had matched all of his classes up with Jacob and Renesmee's. It felt good to see the tan wolf again.
Bella and I turned to walk to our first class together. I could sense that Celli was trailing us, researching. Bella knew, too. And we were both really annoyed. As we walked into English, I stepped behind the doorframe for a moment. Bella walked slowly to here seat, snickering.
Celli walked into the room and stopped. She was looking at Bella, and probably wondering where I was. I crept up behind her, tapped her in the shoulder, and said, "Boo."
Bella burst into hysteria, doubling over. Celli had turned around and squeaked before she ran to her seat.
I zipped over and sat down. "See, this would be the perfect time for me to be a werewolf. I could say 'who's afraid of the big bad wolf?' It would just fit perfectly!" Bella snickered and I whispered a howl. She laughed silently.
Too soon it was lunch again. Bella and I got there first, running at top speeds to reach the cafeteria in 10 seconds. I momentarily wondered if it were legal for vampires to compete in the Olympics. We would get so many medals.
Jacob howled in unison with Seth. They plopped down next to me, and Seth put his arm around my shoulder.
"So how've you been, Cullen? Or do you go by different last names now?" Seth's face was worried, and he was acting like I was a stranger. I laughed lightly and klonked him on the side of the head.
"It's been good, wolf. And, you know, I don't get why don't go by Cullen now that we're trying to be discovered! Bella, what's our last name?" I said, knowing she loved saying it. Her grin got even bigger, and she stood up with Alice.
Alice started. " Cullen is our name! Cullens rule!" She was giggling the entire time. Bella threw in her line.
"You can't hurt a Cullen. Go Cullens!" Bella's eyes drifted across the crowd that was staring at her and Alice. If she could have, she would've blushed. Alice snickered and sat down, with Bella following closely. Her eyes were embarrassed.
Emmett's booming laughter started. "Loved the cheer. So we aren't the Masens, Brandons, and Whitlocks anymore? Just plain old Cullens?" He sounded hopeful, and I nodded. "Yes!" He punched the air happily. Rose giggled.
"I'll go talk to the lady in the office after lunch and change our last names. But we are now going by the Cullens again. Forever." I said, gripping Bella's hand. She was smiling, her eyes laughing.
That afternoon, after school, Bella and I went to our meadow to see if it were still there. It was, beautiful as ever. To see that the only thing that had changed was the height of the grass truly shocked me. Bella sniffled.
"It's exactly the same. I'm surprised I can remember it. Both times I was here I was human. The first time with you, and then again when you were gone and I ran into Laurent. That's when I first saw the werewolves." Her voice was small as she lay down on the grass, shimmering in the afternoon sun.
I lay down on the grass next to her, staring at her. "You saw Laurent here? That's when the wolves killed him, right? In your defense?" I inquired, reaching out to stroke her cheek.
Bella nodded and kept her eyes closed. "He was going to kill me for Victoria. I told you this when we were in Volterra, remember? That is one of the strongest human memories I have, because it was so scary then…" Her voice trailed of as she opened her eyes and looked up into the sky. A grin stretched across her face.
"It's also one of my favorite memories. Just the feeling I had at seeing your face again…it was amazing." I reached over to grasp her hand. She squeezed it and giggled.
"What? What is so funny?" I asked, looking at her warily. She just shook her head and laughed again.
"I just realized that Nessie doesn't even know this place exists. We've never brought her here or anything."
"That's because it's our meadow, and no one else's," I said. She laughed and stood up, pulling me with.
"Ours alone," She agreed, and we ran home to see our daughter and the rest of the family.
The next week and a half sped by in a blur, our hilarious tricks continuing on. The kids at school seemed to get more and more wary of us, and gave us an even wider berth than before. All except for Celli. She continued trailing us around and bugging us.
At the end of the second week, Celli finally figured it out. She came up to Bella and me after school as we were walking towards the woods with Seth. I waved him ahead and he raced off, phasing as he went. His black eyes stared from the edge of the trees, curious.
"Is there any chance I can talk to you two for a minute?" Her voice trembled, like she was scared. I nodded curtly and sat on the bumper of a car, becoming perfectly still. Bella did the same.
"Talk." Bella muttered.
"Ok, I know this is really weird, but I have a theory as to what you are." I stifled a laugh. She sounded like Bella had all those years ago. " I've noticed that you are all incredibly strong and fast. You drink a strange red liquid that I assume is blood. Now, please don't take this the wrong way, but my theory is that your family is a coven of…. Vampires." She whispered the last word, in haling after she said it.
"Except for the two Indian ones. They're like wolves or something, right?" Her voice sounded weak and shrill. I looked over at Bella, who nodded and motioned for me to speak.
"Well, Celli, all of your annoying antics have pulled off. You're right. You live in our old house, and our last name is Cullen. May I just ask, what set you off? It took Bella a lot longer to figure it out in 2004." Bella swatted me on the head.
"Whoa, 2004? How old are you two? In that case, how old are your entire family?"
Bella responded. "I was created or born, in 2006, Edward in 1918, Rosalie in 1933, Emmett in 1935, Alice sometime in the 1920's, Jasper in 1863, Esme, our 'Mother' in 1921, and Carlisle, our 'Father' and leader in, get ready for this, 1663."
Celli looked like she was about to faint. I stood, ready to catch her. But she collected herself and looked at us. "So he's…491 years old? How is that even remotely possible? And you two…238 and 150? That's AMAZING!" She almost shouted the last word, hurting my sensitive ears.
"Can you tell me more? I want to know more! I canted believe it. This is so much like that old, old show Buffy I have on disc. I mean, no body has disc players anymore! It's amazing. Whoa…are the two Indian ones like, werewolves or something? Oh my god that would be so cool! Can I meet your 'parents'? Please? I want to talk to the 491 year old one. That would be so awesome…" She prattled on, following Bella and me to the edge of the woods.
"So can I come over and see your home? Please?" Celli's eyes were hopeful. Bella sighed and leaned into a crouch.
"Get on. And don't forget to close your eyes." Celli squealed and got onto Bella's back. We were off, running at four times the speed of light. Celli hadn't shut her eyes. She was looking over Bella's shoulder, Her eyes wide with wonder as the trees sped past us, escorting us towards home.