For once, the sun was shining. A few clouds still gathered around it, greying near the edges, but overall it was a good day weatherwise, at least for most of the inhabitants of our new town. For us, on the other hand, the days surprisingly sunny outlook merely meant a day off school. Edward, Jasper and Alice had left early in the morning to go hunting, leaving the rest of us behind to waste away the time until their return. I spent the afternoon watching television, sprawled on the living room sofa, boredom setting in after the first half hour of daytime tv. Esme hovered in the background, flicking through books from the shelves, one of which I noted with surprise was of recipes. Emmet and Rosalie had disappeared, no doubt unwilling to join my fate of soap operas, but midway through a fight between a husband and a wife - who happened to be pregnant with her brother-in-law's child - they returned. Rosalie came in first, slipping through the doorway quietly, and sat down next to me, drawing her knees up to her chin. She glanced over at me and smiled, then looking at something above my head, she grinned conspiratorially. Twisting around, I saw Emmet looming over the head of the sofa.
"What are you doing?" I asked warily.
He smirked. "Come on, we want to show you something."
Raising my eyebrows slightly at the plural, I followed him and Rosalie out of the room, until they halted next to the front door.
"Don't look," Emmet ordered, placing a burly hand over my eyes.
"No!" I protested, "I can't see, I'll fall over."
Rosalie laughed quietly and suddenly, in one movement, I felt myself being lifted off the ground and thrown over Emmet's shoulder. "Remember," he said, "No looking."
Obediently, I closed my eyes, and waited until Emmet stopped long enough to put me down. "Ready?" I asked.
"Yeah," he replied, "You can open them now."
Frowning slightly, I looked up to see all the Cullen siblings standing in front of me in the garage. Only as I was about to ask what was going on did I notice what Edward was standing alongside of. He had a hand on it, almost protectively, and he was watching my expression closely. Quickly, I tried to rearrange my face into something which at least looked a bit happier. "Wow," I murmured, moving my gaze from Edward, and onto the car by his side. It was dark and sleek, and, I noted with relief, not overly ostentatious.
"Do you like it?" he asked eagerly, one hand reaching out to open the door for me.
"Edward I love it, it's perfect," and for once, that was almost true. It was just the money side I had a problem with. "How much did-"
Alice cut me off. "You're part of the family now Bella - what's ours is yours." She grinned at me. "Don't you want to see what it looks like inside?"
Hesitantly, I slid in behind the steering wheel, onto the soft leather seat. Edward got in beside me, his face elated. "I don't know why I even waited so long to get you one - I had no idea you'd be gracious about it," he said, inspecting the many dials on the dashboard.
"Is it me who'll be driving this car, or you?" I wondered aloud.
He kissed the top of my head gently. "This isn't a present for myself, Bella. And, really, I think you're capable of driving without causing any road carnage, aren't you?"
Momentarily doubtful, I glanced up through the windscreen, noticing that the rest of them were gone. "Do you want to try it out?" Edward whispered in my ear, and I focused on him again.
"Sure," I replied, feeling a tinge of nostalgia as I thought about my old truck sitting in Charlie's drive. Carefully, I backed out, then heard Edward inhale loudly.
"What?" I asked, panicking. "Did I hit something?"
"Almost…" he answered, grimacing.
