5. Driving Lessons
Two weeks had passed and not one word had been muttered about my little rendezvous in town. It was like once I got home, everyone's memory had just been erased. Just like that. Alice never spoke to me again about what she had saw in her vision and I highly doubt she told anyone. If that was the case, I would be locked up in my room like it was Guantanamo Bay. The weird thing, though, was that I wasn't actually scared about what Alice said. She's been wrong in the past and, really, how could I be dying? I could only die one way and that is I have to be chopped up into little pieces and be sat on fire. Which is totally creepy and horror-movie like. Cool, huh?
Yeah, yeah. Alice said I was "human", but how in the world could I be human? There isn't an operation I could do or a magical pill I could take to just totally change into a normal, human teenager. So I highly doubted this vision of hers was true. Though, I couldn't help but be a little curious as to why me thinking about going to La Push set off her visions.
"Knock, knock," my mother's voice had filled my dead silent room, "can I come in?"
"Yeah." I continued to lay on my bed while I had a staring contest with the ceiling.
"What's wrong, Nes?" My mother spoke as she sat on my bed, so lightly and graceful that it didn't even move.
My eyes closed, letting the ceiling win the contest. "Nothing. Just tired."
"Before you fall I asleep, I want to show you something." One eye flung open. I wonder what this little something could be. Hopefully not another trip to that stupid meadow. "Come on." My mom held out her hand and I weakly grabbed on. We made our way out of the cottage and towards the main house. I noticed that the rest of the family, excluding Aunt Alice and Uncle Emmett, were waiting in the backyard. Was it already time for another hunting trip?
"Are you guys going hunting tonight?" I asked as I continued to follow my mother into the house.
"Yes, we thought we would make one last trip before the party next week." I didn't respond. One week till this stupid party. One more week, Nessie. Lets make it last. Before I knew it, I was being led upstairs towards Alice's room. What was going on?
"Now close your eyes." Oh boy, it was a surprise! Please be a puppy. Please oh please! I heard the creak of a door opening and soon I felt my bare feet on the cool hardwood floor. "Open!"
Now I knew where Alice was. She was right in front of me, displaying a breathtaking dress. It was a floor-length gown, in a deep red. Rows and rows of French lace covered the dress from top to bottom. It was strapless with a gorgeous long bow tying the whole thing together. All in all...it was the most dazzling dress I had ever seen.
"Surprise, Nessie! Do you like it?" Alice did a little spin, making the bottom of the dress ripple in the wind. I was speechless and couldn't even answer her. I just stared at the piece that was in front of me. That dress was for me? Wow. This birthday may be sucky, but at least I'll look hot.
"I...I...love it!"
"Happy Birthday, Nessie," my mother's arms wrapped around my shoulders, "Even though I know you're dreading it." I looked at my mother dumbfounded. She knew? I watched as she left the room and Alice was right behind her.
"Alice, wait!" She turned around with a bright smile on her face. "You told Mom?"
"It might of slipped out?"
"Alice!"
"Don't worry, Nessie. She's not going to tell your dad. Now, Emmett is staying with you tonight. So please don't take that for advantage."
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" I mocked. Alice just laughed and ruffled my hair before leaving for downstairs. Whenever Emmett stayed home with me, he would always watch something on TV not even realizing that I was there. I practically could do whatever I want. But I never did. Usually, I would end up watching TV with him and then fall asleep on the couch. Why would I do anything different? Then I thought about it. There was a major football game on tonight and, no doubt, Emmett would be watching it intensely. Everyone else would be gone at least till morning. And me? I was still curious as to why this La Push place was so special. Hmm. I wonder how my driving skills are?
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"Oh, come on ref! What in the hell are you talking about? That was not a fumble!" Emmett pealed his eyes from the TV to look over at me with a face that was down right histerical. "Can you believe that? These refs are complete dumb asses. I mean, I could do a better job!" I've always hated sports. Never got them. Never played them. I just didn't understand them. Though when Emmett always tried to include me when we watched the games and talked to me like I understood, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah. You definitely could." I shifted on the couch, waiting for the game to switch to commercials. If I was going to have this plan working, I needed to get to talking to him when his full attention wasn't on the game. Once I heard the voice of the Sham-Wow guy on screen, I put the plan in motion. "Uncle Emmett?"
"Yeah?"
"How old do you have to be to drive?"
"Why? Do you want to drive?"
"Well, yeah! I mean on My Super Sweet 16 they're always getting cars before they even turn sixteen. So, I think it's only fair if I get to drive too!"
"I don't know, Nessie. Why don't you discuss that with your father once he gets back?"
"Because he's an overprotective maniac and would say no before I even said can I?" I said in such a low whisper that a human ear couldn't hear.
"Hah! You got that right!" The music for the game began to play. "Okay, the game's back on." Emmett smacked his hands together and got situated on the couch. Phase one of the plan had been complete. Now, on to phase two.
"Uncle Emmett?"
"Ye-yeah, Nessie?"
"You drive a Jeep right?"
"Yeah. What? That was a foul!"
Then after a few seconds of silence, I went in for the kill. "Could I borrow it to go practice for a little bit?"
"Umm, sure. Keys are in the glove compartme-Yes! Fourth down, baby!" Phase two...complete.
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Getting the car onto the actual road was a task in itself. I almost took out two trees on the way and I swear that scratch wasn't there once I got into the car. But once I had it on the street, I was ready to go. I pulled out the directions that I had gotten from the Internet and began my journey. What I was exactly looking for? No clue. But I knew it had to be something big. I mean, first there was the crumpled up note with this Jacob Black's address on it and then the whole Alice vision thing. Whatever it was, I was excited to find out.
The ride was surprisingly smooth for it being my first time driving. Though, I think it's natural for vampires (and half vampires) to have great driving ability. Have you seen how my aunt drives a Porsche? The trees had finally gotten scarce, showing the early evening sky above. I couldn't have been more than 20 miles away. Anxiousness and anticipation began to creep through my body. It had gotten so bad that I began to shake, instantly making the directions in my hand float down to the ground. Ugh. Being the inexperienced driver that I am, I reached down for the paper completely taking my eyes off the road. Once I reached it, I looked up and noticed I was going insanely fast towards a person in the middle of the street. Wait, what? A person?
"Ahhh!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "How do I stop this stupid thing?" My feet searched for the brake and slammed down on it. The car halted just about a foot away from the person. My heart sounded like it was hitting my chest and my hands didn't leave the steering wheel. I sat there in shock as I stared at the person across from me who had the total opposite look on his face. After the shock had settled and my hands were no longer stuck to the wheel, my jelly-feeling legs made their way out of the car and towards the person I had almost hit. "Are...are you okay?"
Woah. This dude was super tall. And he was really...shirtless? Not saying that was such a bad thing. "I'm so sorry. I haven't really driven much and I bent down to pick up this piece of paper and I had no idea what I was doing to telling you the truth and-"
"Hey, don't worry about it." The voice of the tall guy filled my ears. And you know what was weird, it quickly put me at ease. The same way Jasper helped people calm down when they weren't feeling too hot.
"Oh, umm, okay," I couldn't help but notice how muscular this guy really was. Wow, "Do you need a ride somewhere? We're kind of in the middle of nowhere." I could tell that he was thinking deeply as if the answer to this question would win him either a million dollars or nothing.
"No. I can walk home from here," he turned around and headed in the opposite direction.
"Wa-wait! I can take you home. It's no problem! Really!" He turned back around, a smile swept across his face. "Besides, it's the least I could do for almost killing you."
He nodded. "Sure, sure."
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