"You didn't." Shane said with a sigh and a shake of his head. He was referring to his jeep, which Emmett had stolen. The large vampire had evidently took the task he had set himself to heart after claiming that the vehicle was not cool enough. It was barely recognizable, Emmett had completely redone the vehicle. He had placed it on a lift kit, repainted it with a glossy black paint, and from Shane saw had redone the interior as well. "That was my jeep! I liked it!"
"No need to thank me." Emmett said, arriving in front of the jeep in a blur. He leaned on it with one arm nonchalantly and twirled Shane's key ring with one finger. "Actually, you can if you want. Tell me this doesn't say 'badass'."
"I don't care what it says." Shane fumed, marching over to snatch his keys from the vampire. Emmett laughed and stepped easily out of reach, stowing the keys in his pocket. "Give them to me!"
"Sorry, I don't think you should be getting in and out of a jeep that high in your current state." Emmett said, attempting a sympathetic look.
"What's up?" Jacob asked, stepping out from the house. "Oh, Shane. Pretty sweet, right? Everything you wanted?"
"I didn't want this!" Shane snarled, punching the grill of the jeep in rage. "You ruined my jeep!"
"Wait, I thought you said that he asked us to do this?" Jacob asked Emmett, not following. A light of comprehension dawned in his eyes and he groaned. "Dude, seriously? I only helped because you said he asked us to and I wanted to even up with him."
"Oh, he will get over it." Emmett chuckled, still clearly enjoying Shane's anger. "Once he calms down he will see that his old jeep was trash."
"It was not!" Shane roared, taking personal offense to the statement. "That jeep had character!"
"Oh, give me a break." Emmett rolled his eyes, turning back to the house. He moved to the door in a blur and turned around and saying before going inside, "Come on in, everyone wants to say hi."
"I do apologize, again." Carlisle offered, stepping out from the house's other door. Shane did a double take, he had not realized Carlisle had gone inside. He had just been standing beside him. "But I would also recommend getting used to such things."
"We'll see." Shane muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets and following them inside. Jacob patted him consolingly on the shoulder.
"I still have all your jeep's old stuff." The werewolf muttered, "I can put it back to how it was, mostly. A few things aren't going to be fixable."
"Yeah, I threw them out." Emmett said, not bothering to turn his head from where he sat on the couch watching the game. "Just to avoid that."
The Cullens were grouped into the living room every eye, with the exception of Emmett, on Shane as he walked inside. "Well, Shane." Carlisle said, gesturing expansively with one arm. "I realize this may be a little redundant in saying, but, welcome home."
"Don't worry." Alice said, appearing beside him and throwing an arm around his shoulder. "I will totally teach you how to dress. Ooh! We can even do matching days!"
"Alice." Edward said chidingly, shooting Shane an apologetic gesture. "Give him some space. Smother him after he's had time to adjust."
"Fine." Alice said, drawing out the word like it was a chore. She stepped back and Jasper took her place, standing in front of Shane with a curious expression.
"Edward tells me you enjoy chess." He said, his voice quiet to the point Shane had to strain his eyes to hear the vampire. "I would enjoy playing a game some time, if you'd like."
"Uh, sure." Shane said uncertainly. "Thanks for, uh, taking me in for a little while I guess."
"Oh, it's no problem at all." Bella said, smiling at him earnestly. "Honestly, it will be nice to talk to someone who is human. Everyone around here forgets what it's like, so it can be sort of hard to explain things."
"Glad to be of help." Shane muttered, wishing that he could somehow melt into the floor. He despised being the center of attention, and being stared at by vampires that could literally see everything-."
"I would say you should get used to that." Edward offered, his arm around Bella's waist. "It won't really get easier."
Shane glowered at him in response. "So, am I staying in the same room I was in before?"
"Of course not!" Esme said, the idea apparently offending her greatly. "We would never make you stay in such a small room."
Small? Shane repeated to himself, resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow and vocalize the question. The room he had stayed in while he healed was far and wide bigger than the living room, kitchen, and porch in his old house. "Erm, alright, where am I going then?"
"Follow me!" Renesmee said, darting forward and grabbing his hand. She pulled him forward gently, quite literally dragging him a few feet when he instinctively dug his heels in. She turned to him and gave him a reproachful look like his reluctance to follow her was somehow his fault and totally unacceptable. "Come on!" She said, pulling him past the others and up the stairs.
Unable to actually pull himself away, Shane followed her somewhat hesitantly. She led him up two flights of stairs to a long hallway with several doors. She stopped at the first and pulled him through. "I really hope this isn't my room." He said, observing the room's yellow and white color scheme. The walls were adorned with books and music of an extremely wide variety and languages. There was a computer in the corner, with a large amount of wires coming out of it.
"Don't worry, this is my room." Renesmee said, releasing his hand and taking a seat on the bed. "Your room is across the hall. Esme's idea. She thinks it will be good for me to have some close to my age around."
"Hm." Shane turned around and pushed open the door she had indicated. The first thing he saw when he opened the door immediately made him smile. "Hey there, old soldier, I was wondering what happened to you." He was referring to his surfboard, the one he was certain Renesmee had broken the night she had attacked him. It was lying across his bed, his room clearly an ocean themed one. Several paintings of the sea and sand were on his wall, and the vampires had somehow managed to make his room smell like the ocean as well. Crossing the room to his surfboard he picked it up gently and ran his hand down the side, his eyes closed. It was small, but he definitely felt where a large crack had broken the board in half. Shane doubted anyone else would have been able to pick it out, he only could because it was his board, and it had been beautifully repaired. Propping it into the corner he paused to take stock of the room he would be staying in for some time, appreciating the effort that the vampires had gone through to make it homey. His backpack was in one corner, a desk with what he assumed was a top of the line laptop in the other. His bed had a blue themed spread, and several pillows with shells embroidered on them as well. Further examination revealed that he had his own bathroom, fully equipped, and a walk in closet that he did not want to further explore. He had taken one look, seen a very expensive suit, and immediately had closed the doors.
"Well, what do you think?" Renesmee asked once the doors to the closet had shut. She was sitting on the edge of his bed, appearing ready to flee at a moment's notice. "Do you like it?"
"It's… nice." Shane said finally. He sighed and favored her with a small smile. "Thanks for fixing my surfboard. You did a great job."
"How did..?" She asked. She stopped when Shane sent her a knowing look and tapped his temple with two fingers. "Of course. I keep forgetting you can read minds."
"Comes in handy." He answered, grabbing his backpack and searching through it. He smiled when he pulled out a picture of his family, setting the photo on top of his desk where he could easily see it.
Curious to her core, Renesmee darted over to peer at the photo. "This is your family?"
"Mom and Dad." Shane nodded, looking through his backpack again for the paper his teacher had given him a zero on. He was determined to see what they had marked off and avoid the mistake for the future, though he doubted it would matter. A perfect paper could be turned in, but if it was by him it would still receive a failing grade. "That was a few years ago, right before they went on a trip to the Congo."
"You look happy." Renesmee said softly. "Like… really happy."
"Should I not?" Shane asked, not following her train of thought.
"No, it's just…" She struggled for the right words which, to Shane, was quite amusing as he listened to her thoughts. In the end she threw up her hands and glared at him, waiting for him to answer her unspoken question.
"I guess I'm not a really smiley person." Shane shrugged, reading through the paper's comments and growing more annoyed by the second. The teacher hadn't even critiqued him, not really, instead he had simply bashed every sentence and paragraph. "And this isn't helping."
"Can I read?" Renesmee asked, extending a hand.
"You already have." Shane said moodily, crumpling the paper into a ball and tossing it into the trashcan. "Ugh, this is going to be a long year."
"You know, Carlisle is wondering about that." Renesmee said, shifting closer to Shane on the bed. "What are you going to do? If the teacher all fail you, how are you going to pass the year? You have two more years of this before you can graduate."
"Not sure." Shane admitted, laying heavily back onto the bed and discovering something interesting. He was laying on a water bed. He stared up at the ceiling as he considered the question. "As long as enough of the tests and quizzes are multiple choice, I technically can't fail. I doubt I can keep my grades where they are, but I won't fail out."
"And if they mark you off even because of that?" Nessie's worry was evident in her tone. "What then?"
"I guess I'll have to worry about that when it happens." He said, pushing up into a sitting position and staring out the window to the ocean in the distance. He pursed his lips wistfully and glanced over to his surfboard, considering how best he could get away with the plan that was formulating in his mind.
"I wouldn't." Edward's soft voice came from Shane's doorway. "Carlisle wants you to wait to do anything like that until after your stitches are out. That way you don't accidentally reopen them. Again."
"That last time was not my fault." Shane snapped venomously, glaring at Edward, unjustifiably anger with him for keeping him from surfing. "And you can't keep me from surfing."
"Technically, I can." Edward corrected, moving to stand in front of him in less than a blink of an eye just to prove his point. "Besides, today is special. Our extended family heard about you, thanks to Rosalie, and wants to meet you."
"Oh, are the Denalis coming?" Renesmee asked, this apparently news to her. "Is Garrett coming?"
"I wouldn't doubt it." Edward laughed quietly. "He loves anything interesting and, well, you qualify Shane."
Hello Readers, Hallowed here. I would like to thank you for reading, and ask you if you could leave a review as to what you think of the story thus far. Thank you in advance, and cheers.
