Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and she is brilliant.

Chapter 6: The Game

My therapy sessions were in Bowling Green, a buzzing little city full of flea markets, one mall, and fast food restaurants galore. It was a 35 minute drive from BoMark. Esme was silent on the drive back to the farm which I appreciated. She didn't ask about my appointment. She didn't pry.

I enjoyed her quiet company. A companionable silence that didn't need to be filled with pointless jabber. I spent a lot of my life talking – mostly out of my ass. It was nice to just be left with my thoughts while in the company of another. I could delve in and seek answers from myself, think of everything that had happened in my life and not worry about falling into the endless abyss of self-hate and regret because I knew someone was there with me.

An anchor, whether they knew it or not.

It was just after 3 o'clock when we got back. The whole Cullen clan were all sitting around casually eating from a bowl of pretzels and talking and laughing. Even Alice. I was surprised to see her usually stiff shoulders relaxed and shaking with her laughter. Her smile was wide and beautiful and so carefree as she sat between her two brothers on the sofa.

Carlisle was the first to notice our presence. He stood up and walked over, giving me a genuine smile, green eyes twinkling mischievously as he grabbed Esme around the waist and blew a raspberry on her cheek. She giggled, her face flushing crimson and pushed him away. I looked away from the show of affection and caught Edward staring at me. He quickly looked down at the pretzel in his hand, twisting it and examining it like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

That was weird.

"Alright," Esme clapped her hands together, gaining the attention of the room, "Who's ready for some fun?"

"I was born ready!" Emmett jumped up and barreled toward the front door, dragging Alice behind him like a rag doll. She didn't seem to mind, giggling and stumbling trying to keep up with his long strides. Esme and Carlisle followed after them, hand in hand.

I wasn't sure what to do. I knew my schedule. It was family time. I had been dreading it. I was left to my own devices my first day and was excused from this... event. And now that I was expected to participate, I could feel my hands clam up with anxiety. The whole idea of 'family time' was foreign to me. And honestly, it made me feel weird. Bad weird. I didn't want to do it.

But I had to do it.

"You alright?"

I jumped, startled by his voice. I had forgotten Edward was still there. I turned to him. He stood by the couch, his hands stuffed into his jean pockets and his bushy eyebrows pulled down in confusion... or was that concern?

"You know, you ask me that a lot," I pointed out, avoiding his question.

He let out a breathy laugh and turned his eyes to the floor. "You always look like you're ready to bolt. Or vomit."

"I'm not going to bolt." I couldn't make any promises about the vomiting. I was feeling pretty sick to my stomach.

He looked up at me and flashed me that crooked grin that made my insides twist and fold. "Glad to hear it." He took a step toward me, hands still tucked in his jeans as he gestured with his elbow to the door.

"You ready?"

Not even close.

"Let's go."

EPOV

We all gathered in a large patch of land on the side of the house and watched as my mother and father set up the volleyball net.

Family time was a treasured event in the household. With our hectic schedules of work, chores, school, and maintaining the farm, we never really a chance to just hang out as a unit. So a few years ago, my mother and father cut a couple hours of our 'farm time' and implemented 'family time'. It was a welcome change and I, as well as the rest of my family, looked forward to it everyday.

We would tell ghost stories, have a bonfire, play board games, go swimming in the creek, or just go for a nice drive. Together. One of our favorite things to do, though, was play a sport. Any sport. We used to love playing football the most but had to stop because Emmett tended to get a little too 'ruff and tuff'. I had the x-ray of my broken arm hanging on my bedroom wall to prove it.

For Bella's first day participating in family time, we decided that volleyball would be the safest bet. Because who doesn't like volleyball? It's fun, you played with a team, and no one got hurt... unless a spiked ball got out of hand.

As I looked over at Bella, I started to think that maybe volleyball wasn't the best idea. She watched my parents set up the net with wide eyes, her hands wringing together roughly, and I could have sworn I heard whispered curses spilling from her mouth.

I wanted to go and ask her if she was alright, but as she pointed out to me just a moment ago, I asked that question a lot. I couldn't help it. She just looked so lost and scared sometimes that I wanted to reassure her that everything would be okay. I didn't know for sure that things would be okay, but I felt compelled to tell her anyway. I wanted to reach out and smooth that apprehensive wrinkle on her forehead that seemed to be a permanent etching on her skin. I literally had to bind hands down in my jean pockets to keep from doing so. Bella had awoken something inside of me that I didn't quite understand, but I wanted to explore it nevertheless.

It didn't feel like a bad thing. New? Yes. Strange? Very. But not bad.

I walked over to her and noted that she had pulled her plump bottom lip between her teeth. Her lip was turning white from the pressure and I was afraid she was going bite it right off.

"You don't like volleyball?"

There. That's better than asking if she is alright.

Her eyes glanced at me for only a moment before turning back to the setup. "I don't... play."

"Volleyball?"

"I don't play sports."

"Oh... you don't like them?"

"They don't like me."

"I don't get it," I admitted.

"And you don't want it. Trust me." She looked at my, I'm sure, flabbergasted expression and sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm clumsy. A total klutz. I can't even walk in a straight line without tipping over. I've fallen down the stairs almost every day since I learned how to walk."

I rolled my eyes. There's no way anyone is that clumsy and I expressed my opinion to her to which she replied with a resolute, "Just watch."

It didn't take long for Bella to prove me wrong. We set up in teams. My dad and Alice were on mine facing off against the others. We had been playing for all of five minutes and Bella had already gotten hit in the face, legs, and stomach at least six times... each. We didn't mean to hit her, of course, but every time the ball came near her, her lanky arms would flail around and miss. She was like a spastic monkey tripping over her two left feet.

But she was persistent.

She never ran from the ball and when it hit her, she would brush it off and keep going. It was a sight to see. I could tell my family tried their hardest not to laugh at her, but most of us were failing in that endeavor. After the ball hit her a seventh time, whacking her right on the side of the head, Emmett couldn't stand it anymore and fell to the ground, his loud guffaws surely scaring the cows a few yards over. And after that it was like the domino effect. Emmett tipped, then my father, Alice, my mother, and then me.

I fell to my knees and looked up at Bella. She stood still with her arms crossed over chest and her eyes narrowed. She was biting her lip again.

"I'm... sorry... I..." I couldn't stop. I couldn't even apologize. I held my hands out to her, palms up, hoping that she would understand that we weren't making fun of her. We had just never seen anything like that and it was too hard to hold in.

Bella pursed her lips and looked down at the ground, her boot toeing the grass and kicking lightly and a patch of dirt there. Her shoulders started to shake.

Is she crying?

Slowly our laughs came to a close and my mother ran over to Bella and wrapped her arms around her. She apologized and Bella looked up.

She was smiling. She was laughing. She was beautiful...

"I told you I sucked!" she yelled through her giggles, her eyes resting on me with a 'I told you so' glint.

All I could do was smile at her. I didn't dare speak through the lump in my throat. Seeing Bella so happy and carefree and smiling and eyes shining... it was something else. I didn't know how to explain it, but it was addicting and I wanted to see it more often.

I spent most of the rest of the game in a daze, trying to keep my eyes off of her and focus. Emmett had taken to protecting her from the ball. While it had been amusing to watch her stumble and flail around, we weren't cruel people. We had a laugh at her expense, though we didn't mean to, and now it was over.

When it was time to stop, everyone was a sweaty happy mess. I wasn't sure who won. I didn't care.

We started packing up when Emmett told us to hang on.

"I wanna try something!" he announced. He ran at Bella and she squealed as barreled into her, grabbing her around the knees and hoisting her onto his shoulders. "Let's see your reflexes when you're not worrying about falling over those little legs. Ed!" he looked at me with a grin. "Toss the ball!"

Bella was still smiling when I looked at her. She nodded her head, exhilaration lighting her face. I tossed the ball straight up and watched as she spiked it back down with ease. She raised her arms above her head with a triumphant, "YES!"

I had never been so enthralled by a scene in my life and I wasn't sure how I should feel about that.

.

Our first family time with Bella had been a success. So much so that I couldn't stop smiling like a fool while I laid on my bed. I stared up at the ceiling fan above my bed and played it all out in my head. Over and over again. I didn't know why Bella was sent here but I couldn't imagine that she had done something that awful. I just couldn't see it. She was so sweet and had the smile of an angel and the laugh of a thousand bells and no I wasn't dense enough to not realize that I was smitten.

I couldn't help it.

She took my breath away with that smile and then revived me with one look from those wide chocolate brown eyes. I couldn't describe the feelings stirring inside of me because I had never felt them before.

I was spending my 'me' time – much the same as 'family' time, just alone – thinking about a girl that not so long ago I viewed as a threat. But she wasn't a threat. I didn't think so. I made a rash judgment and while I never voiced my previous opinion to her, I still felt bad about it.

She's just a girl. A sweet, beautiful klutz.

I sat up and rubbed my hands down my face. I looked over at my keyboard sitting in the corner of my room. Usually I would be playing it during this time. I had done so every night for the past six years. I could even feel a melody burning deep inside of me. But I couldn't focus on it.

Bella.

That's all I could think about. I wondered what she chose to do with her free time. I wanted to know. And I couldn't stop myself from going to find out. We were allowed to do whatever we wanted with our allotted time. We could hang out alone or together – whatever.

I wanted to see what Bella was doing. No harm in that.

My parents always spent this time alone. Together. Locked in their room. I crept passed their door, the floorboard squeaking only slightly and then took the stairs three at a time until I was on the main floor and right outside Bella's room. I didn't want my parents to know I was going to see her. They wouldn't have minded so long as we kept the door open and I stayed off her bed, but I didn't want to deal with all the questions that I couldn't answer.

Or questions I didn't want to answer.

I took a deep breath and leaned in to knock, but a noise behind the door stopped me. It almost sounded like a... whimper? But that couldn't be. She was just happy and smiling a few minutes ago. I leaned in closer, my ear almost touching the door. It was rude to eavesdrop. I knew that. But what if she's hurt? Maybe she got hit worse than she led on.

"...sorry... so sorry... stupid … Angela..." I could only make out every other word, the rest a mumbled, jumbled mess of pained sobs that ripped me to my core. I hated it. I hated hearing her so sad. Even worse, I hated that I couldn't help.

I wouldn't intrude on her private moment. Though it was killing me not to go in there and try to comfort her the I could. That wasn't my place.

I jumped away from the door as quickly and quietly as I could and bounded back up stairs before I was caught listening. I could feel the tears straining behind my eyes, threatening to fall, and I couldn't figure out why her pain pained me.

She sounded so... broken. It hurt to hear her like that.

I wanted to help her. Not like what my mom did to help the other people that came here. Not the youth rehabilitation that churns and burns all the hate and anger from you until you can function properly in the real world. No, that's not what I wanted to help her with. I wanted to help her stop being sad. But how do you do that when you have no idea why that person is so torn up? It would be rude to ask her. It's none of my business.

But I wanted to know.

I huffed and fell back on my bed, my fingers reaching up to tug at my roots – a habit brought on by frustration. I glanced at my keyboard. The more I thought about Bella, the stronger and louder than melody inside of me grew.

Maybe I can play for a while.

A/n: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was lighter and shorter than the others. But, don't worry. There is a storm brewing. Stay tuned and please let me know what you think!