Real World: Port Angeles
*****
Every day that week, the group was at the YMCA, watching and learning. They found out that Caius was annoyed about having to greet them that first day. And Marcus always seems bored. They had lunch with a few of the other councelors - Ian, Wanda, and Jared - on Wednesday and they found out all about that particular branch of the YMCA.
"So, what is up with Caius? He seems like a stick has been shoved up his ass." Emmett asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.
Everyone laughed, then Jared answered.
"Yea, he is like that. He normally doesn't deal with any of us, and he prefers it that way. He handles the finances, normally."
"So, there are three of them that run this place together, right? Caius, Marcus and Aro?" Alice asked, sipping her drink.
Wanda nodded. "Caius handles the money, Marcus handles the paperwork, and Aro handles the people. Aro is who you guys will deal with more, once he gets back."
Ian snorted at that.
"Are they making you guys come on the camping trip?" He was leaning back in his chair, balancing on two legs.
"Yea. What usually happens on this camping trip? I am not very outdoorsy." Bella scowled.
"That is an understatement. She can barely walk across a flat, stable surface without tripping over air." Jake laughed.
Bella threw a pickle at him.
"We don't usually do a lot on it - go out on the lake, bon fires, nature hikes. Normal camping things." Jared shrugged, his chair now in the same position as Ians.
"Are there ghost stories during the bon fires?" Emmett asked, getting excited.
"Not when the younger kids are around. We don't need them having nightmares." Wanda answered.
"Because the little kids are the only ones who get scared, right?" Ian asked, taking Wanda's hand. She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Once the younger kids are asleep, though, stories are allowed. Aro loves telling stories." Jared said, and the three of them groaned.
"What?" Felix asked, looking between the three of them.
"Aro has this one story he absolutely loves to tell. He tells it every year. It is a vampire story, and really, not that scary." Wanda explained.
"It is more of a love story, than a scary story, in my opinion." Jared shrugged.
"Caius has a scarier one, about aliens." Ian shuddered.
"I have to admit, Caius scares me by himself." Bella said softly, making everyone laugh.
"Aro keeps him in check." Wanda smiled at Bella.
~*~
During the nights, when the group was back at home, they tried to figure out a schedule of activities for the kids each day. Alice had out a notebook and pens and would make everyone sit at the dining room table and figure things out. By Thursday night, they had a set plan. The days were schedules perfectly. Monday's, Wednesdays, and Fridays were set to be spent doing physical things. Playing outside or in the large room for indoor sports. Teusdays and Thursdays were for arts and crafts. They all agreed to look up some arts and crafts things for the kids to do, and they knew plenty of games for them to play on the three days a week they would be doing that.
Friday morning they got up and made it in to work. Aro still had not gotten back, so they met with Caius and Marcus in the conference room again. Alice had next weeks plan ready, anxious to have it approved.
"Well?" Marcus asked, still seeming bored, with a hand out for the paper.
Alice handed it to him, and they all waited to hear what the verdict was. Marcus scanned over it, then handed it off to Caius with a sigh. He leaned against the wall, waiting.
Caius took longer to look over the plan. They watched a smirk form on his face as he looked it over. The two men whispered for a moment, then Caius looked at them again. He gave them a knowing smirk, and nodded.
"Looks like you have an excellent plan here. I will check in with you sometime next week to make sure everything is going... well." He then dismissed them to have the day off. They had shadowed all week, and still didn't know which kids were theirs.
When they got back to the house, they all split up as usual. Felix and Jane sat in the living room, while everyone else moved outside. Jake and Emmett were playing basketball, while Alice watched them. Edward and Bella sat with their feet in the pool.
"What do you think the kids are going to be like?" Bella asked, breaking the silence between she and Edward.
"Perfect angels. They will do everything we ask of them, and we will have no trouble makers." Edward responded, trying to keep a straight face. Bella snorted.
"Haha, you are so funny." She nudged him with her shoulder.
"Hey, you asked." Edward bumped back into her.
"I am serious though. I wonder what they will be like. The look Caius gave our plan was not one that filled me with hope." She sighed.
"He looks like he will get a kick out of it if we screw up." Edward shrugged.
"Plan B will work beautifully, I am sure of it." Alice said, sitting cross legged next to them.
"Plan B?" Bella asked, an eyebrow raised at her friend.
"Yes. I do not know what Plan B is yet, but it will be great. Plan A is going to fail." Alice nodded as she spoke.
"Then, why are we doing Plan A at all, if you know it will fail?" Edward asked incredulously.
"We need to do Plan A in order to learn from our mistakes."
Bella stared at Alice very hard for a minute before speaking again.
"How do you know all this?" Her head tilted to the side a little.
"I get feelings." She shrugged, twisting off the cap to her water and taking a gulp from it.
"Like... a psychic?" Edward asked.
"Psychic's aren't real! Silly! That would be like saying Jasper has empathic powers, just because he can read moods really well." She laughed, dismissing the idea.
"Who is Jasper?" Emmett asked, as he and Jake walked over.
"Oh! Jasper is my boyfriend back home." Alice beamed, then told them all to hold on a second and ran inside.
They all stood around discussing random things until she came running back out. She had a camera in her hand and was turning it on as she sat back down. She flipped through pictures of herself and her boyfriend, and some of their friends. Emmett felt the need to show off his fiance, so he went to grab his wallet. He had a few pictures in it, and they passed them around.
"How can your fiance stand you being here?" Bella asked him, handing back the last picture.
"She is used to me doing crazy things. This," He gestured to the house. "Is quite boring compared to some things I have done." They all chuckled imagining the trouble Emmett could probably get into.
"You guys would love her. She is the most amazing person I have ever met." He beamed at the pictures before puting them away again.
"Is she like, some sort of model?" Bella asked, making Emmett laugh loudly.
"She has had some offers, but she loves the job she has. She wouldn't trade it for anything." He smiled, thinking about her.
"What does she do?" Alice asked.
"She is a mechanic." Emmett said straight faced.
"No!" Alice and Bella both yelped.
"Bullshit! That was not a mechanic." Jake said, shaking his head.
"I swear. Here." Emmett pulled another picture out of his wallet. It was of an old hot rod, looking brand new. "This is our baby. We put her back together, together. She did all the work on the engine, while I worked on the body." Emmett went into car talk, and Alice and Bella tuned the guys out.
Alice moved over to sit on the other side Bella so they could talk, and not be interrupted by the testosterone.
"You and Edward look cosy again." She winked at Bella.
"Yea, we talked last night." A blush colored Bella's cheeks.
"I am guessing there was more than just talking." Alice nudged Bella with her elbow.
Bella's blush deepened and Alice squealed loudly. The guys stopped talking, and looked at the, curiously. Bella looked like a deer caught in headlights, as Alice froze.
"What? Haven't you seen an excited female before? We are talking about our outfits for tomorrow!" Alice yelled at them.
This seemed to be accepted by Jake and Emmett, but Edward just started right at Bella. She gave him a nervous smile and waved at him before turning back to Alice.
"I am going to kill you." She hissed.
Alice giggled. "You so have to give me details when we are in our room later!"
~*~
Monday morning came, and the group was running around the house getting ready. They had decided that it would be best if they all wore similar clothes. It seemed like a very casual dress code was held at the YMCA, so they were all wearing jeans, sneakers, and polo shirts. Alice had seen that that was what most of the other counselors wore, so she made sure everyone had at least a couple sets of clothes over the weekend.
When they got to work, Heidi told them that Aro was back, and he was outside on the basketball court with their group of kids. So, they all made their ways into the back, not sure what to expect of Aro, since Caius and Marcus were not the most welcoming. When they rounded the corner to the basketball court, they saw a large group of kids in a circle around a man who looked to be in his mid 40's.
"Now what have I told you all?" The man asked.
"To be nice to the new counselors." The kids all replied, sounding bored.
"That's right. No scaring these ones off." He laughed as he spoke that time.
As the group got closer to them, the man turned around. He had long black hair that was tied back. From up close, he didn't look quite as old as he had, maybe in his late 30's.
"Here you are!" He called, stepping out of the group of kids, who all turned to stare at the roommates.
Aro walked over and shook everyone's hands, saying over and over that he was extremely sorry to have not been around last week. When they all finished introducing themselves to him, he lead them over to the kids.
"Now, I believe Caius told me that you all had planned for today to be spent outside, am I right?" Aro asked, sounding excited.
"Yes. We thought the kids -" Alice started but was cut off.
"Good, good. Well, here they are, and here you are. Get to know each other! Lunch will be ready at noon." Aro said quickly, then turned and walked back towards the building.
The roommates stood there, staring at the kids. The kids all stared back at them, waiting for them to do something.
"Hi!" Alice stepped forward. "I am Alice. Uhm, if I remember correctly, Jessica?" She searched the group for the girl. When she found her, she gave a little wave. "Hi, Jessica! As I was saying, if I remember correctly, we have the same birthday! How cool is that?"
"That's super!" The girl said sarcastically, then turned and she and a couple other girls walked away towards a bench. Alice's smile faded, and she stepped back next to Bella again. Bella patted her arm.
"Ok, so, anyone up for some basketball?" Emmett tried this time. He was met by more stares, and a few more kids wandering away. Emmett deflated a little, too.
Edward just gestured to the rest of the kids to go on and play. The roommates stared at each other, not knowing what to do next.
"Was I too peppy? I feel like I might have over done it." Alice pouted, looking at Bella.
"No! I love your energy! They just don't know you yet. Give them time." Bella reassued Alice.
"What do we do now?" Jake asked, looking around the playground.
"I guess we go try to get to know them, like Aro said." Felix suggested.
With a sigh, they all seperated to go try to talk to groups of kids.
A/N: Looks like they got a great set of kids, eh? Should turn out interesting...
... I don't think Jane spoke at all this chappy... meh. she would have said something annoying, so better she be silent. haha she will be seen more next chappy, I promise.
And, yea... so I went the dorky way and in need of characters to add into the story I went with people from Stephanie Meyer's other book, The Host. It was easiest way to go, since I have to come up with names and personalities for about 25 kids. I am figuring it will focus on a handful of the kids, the rest will be good kids who don't stand out.
There will be more fun just around the house soon, too, so don't worry about the story only paying attention to their job. It will play a big part, especially with the camping trip. That will probably take like two chappy's. So, there will be a focus on work until the camping trip, then I will focus more on the home life again. Work will still be shown from time to time, but as I said, it is not the focus. :)
Let me know what you all think of this chappy!
~AP
