Ok so hi :) I know I haven't updated in forever but I've been busy with that trifling little thing I like to call reality. It tends to get in the way every now and again.
And you guys if I take more then a week to update again then you have permission to review and kick my ass, I take forever when writing so I apologise.
But here we are this is an update. I was originally going to go straight to therapy but figured I'd put this in first.
Also I was wondering if anyone would like to beta this story for me, let me know.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, never have never will.
Emmett's POV is set while Carlisle and Edward are in the hospital.
Emmett POV
"Kids, you home?", I heard Esme's voice call out to us from the kitchen.
We dropped our bags in the hall and slipped off our shoes so we wouldn't dirty Esme's clean floor and headed for the kitchen.
I greeted my mother with a nod and headed for the fridge for a snack.
Once my sandwich was made I sat down on a stool and turned to face my mother who was fiddling with the tea towel she was holding.
"What's up Mommyio", I asked, in between chewing.
Esme gave the old 'don't chew with your mouth open' look and I swallowed hastily.
"Look kids, the thing is….", Esme began "your father and I have decided that… that it's time that Edward went back to therapy", she said in one breath, avoiding Alice's penetrating gaze.
Rosalie and I exchanged glances slyly across the table as Jasper spoke up "No offence but why are you telling us this?", Jasper muttered in his southern drawl, and I swear I saw Alice swoon.
"Well", Esme mumbled, staring at the kitchen counter "Edward's going to need all of our support and…", she continued before being interrupted by Rose.
"Do you think he'll even notice?", she questioned sceptically.
"Does he ever notice anything?", Jasper voiced, his tone matching his twins.
"Kids, come on", Esme called out, her face creased with worry and disapproval "he's still your brother and he's going through a hard time".
"He's been going through a hard time since he was a kid, it hasn't changed recently", Rosalie muttered.
"Look, kids", Esme's voice rose and her jaw set in determination "Edward is going back to therapy and… well Carlisle and I were hoping you'd go with him", she said her voice drifting slightly.
"What?", Jasper exclaimed, rising from his seat, his eyes flashing in anger.
A sane person would have shrunk away from him, but Esme was not a sane person, she was our mother.
"Yes", she said looking him in the eye with the ferocity and softness that only a mother could have and the anger within him recoiled.
"Of course were not forcing you, you don't have to go but Edward already has a difficult time communicating. Imagine him among strangers, without a single person he recognises", Esme said, the crafty woman backing us into a corner. She wasn't forcing us to go but she would be disappointed in us if we didn't.
"Among strangers?", Rose's voice was shrill "He'll be just as distant and cold as he is towards us, his family".
"He is still your brother", Esme said curtly.
"What Rose means is, will this actually do any good?", I asked before Rose responded.
"Yeah I mean Edward's been to therapy before, a lot", Alice said quietly, speaking for the first time since entering the room.
Esme sighed; the concern showing on her face "We just want our son to be happy", her head was bowed, her face showing her countless sleepless nights. Jasper rose, bringing his arms around his mother's weary frame and smoothing her hair gently.
"We'll go", Alice murmured softly "we'll go".
Bella POV
The whispers followed me, some discernable some not. But they were all the same. Freak, emo freak, psycho, crazy, attention seeking drama queen, at the very least it was better then the sympathetic glances people threw me as they spotted me.
Apparently Forks High wasn't so great when it came to privacy, the whole school knew, within a matter of hours and the rumours flew. Some said that I had jumped off the school roof; some were closer to the truth. All seemed to consist of my intended demise.
I walked into the small canteen, my feet dragging, head bowed to avoid the merciless stares penetrating my figure.
I grabbed my lunch, hurriedly accepting the change the lunch lady offered me, she placed it into my hand, careful not to tough my skin, afraid of catching whatever disease I was rumoured to have.
It was strange that mere days ago I had been seen as a shining beacon to the masses of this rainy little town and it's inhabitants and now, people crossed the street just to escape me, mothers warned their children not to stare at the girl, teachers and students alike avoided me like the plague.
I sat myself at an empty table and kept my head down as I heard the senior sitting directly behind me murmur to her boyfriend that she wanted to find another seat.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a girl with long straight brown hair and striking hazel eyes kiss the cheek of the boy sitting beside her and stand up, moving towards what seemed to be, my direction.
In a moment she was standing before me, a warm smile adorning her face, her eyes gentle but unsympathetic. She seemed like one of the few people unwilling to judge me before hearing the entire story.
"May I sit here?", she questioned softly, her pale hand already gripping the back of the chair directly opposite me.
I nodded mutely surprised that someone was actually willing to give me the time of day, especially someone who was previously sitting among Mike and Jessica, both of which had been predictably cold towards me, both horrified by the concept of having the ever elusive popularity, escape from their desperate clutches.
"I'm Angela", she said smiling happily, pleased by my acceptance.
"Bella", I muttered, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
The murmurs surrounding us grew louder as people realised that Angela was sitting by me. I noticed a girl with long corn silk hair and a scowl; she nodded towards me and then leaned towards the centre of the table whispering to her peers, causing laughs to erupt among them.
"Don't mind them", Angela said, drawing my attention away from the 'popular group'.
I failed to produce a smile but Angela seemed to appreciate my efforts.
"You… you don't have to sit with me you know", I mumbled, gazing down at my untouched pizza, my appetite gone.
"I know", she smiled warmly, no hint of deceit to be found "I want to". She didn't elaborate as of to why she wished to sit with me but I couldn't bring myself to believe that it was just to worm gossip from me, she seemed far too genuine.
I decided since she was offering me friendship, I may as well make a conscious effort to be a friend worth risking her reputation over.
"So since I'm new here, why don't you go give me the low down on Forks High, since I'm going to be here for a while it seems", I mustered a smile and Angela returned it with enthusiasm.
She hesitated for a moment and I knew then that Angela wasn't one to gossip. "I'm not looking for gossip, just the generals, who I should and shouldn't look out for", I informed her. Angela sighed in relief, glad that I wasn't a gossiper.
Angela filled me in on all the general stuff about Forks, the facilities the school offered, what extra curricular activities were good to join, the sports in the school, the teachers and the classes.
However we were interrupted just as Angela and I were bonding over a common distaste for trigonometry. I looked up to see the same blonde girl I had spied earlier, flanked on either side by Jessica and two other girls I didn't recognise.
"Come sit with us Angela, you don't want to be near this freak", the blonde girl sneered.
"Thanks but I'm perfectly happy where I am", Angela replied coolly.
Jessica looked up, startled and her eyes had a slight panic to them. "Come on Ang, you've heard what happened, she's weird, a freak it's social suicide just to be seen with her".
But Angela didn't stir she shook her head firmly but otherwise didn't respond.
The blonde girl turned to me addressing me directly "Freaks belong with freaks, why don't you go join the Cullen's, I'm sure you'd be welcome there", she flipped her long hair and stalked back to her table.
Angela's eyes were sad with a spark of indignation, mine I was sure held nothing beyond confusion.
"That was Lauren", Angela told me quietly "the blonde, you know Jessica, the other two were Natalie and Jessica, don't mind them. They just follow Lauren blindly", she informed me.
"Lauren's only interest is being on the top rung of the popularity ladder, just ignore her", Angela said smiling sweetly at me.
"Here I'll give you the low down on some of the people here, the ones I know well anyway", she smiled broadly and continued.
"You're acquainted with those four now so let's see", she scratched her head pondering who to begin with. "You know Mike, the guy sitting on the right of him is Eric and he works on the school newspaper. Then on the left of Mike is Tyler he's on the basketball team, one of the best players or so I've heard" she said peering at the table where they were all talking among themselves.
"The guy sitting closest to us, the one with brown hair and glasses, that's Ben, my boyfriend", Angela blushed as she spoke and I smiled, taking note of the adoring smile on her face.
"The guy sitting across from Ben is Conner; he's nice a bit shy but really nice. Both him and Ben offered to come over here with me, but I didn't want to overload you", she said smiling apologetically; I shook my head to let her know I appreciated it.
She continued to tell me little bits of information about a few people littered across the canteen.
By that stage my curiosity was burning and I had to ask the question that had been bugging me ever since my introduction to Lauren.
"Angela?", I asked peering up at her from under my lashes "Who are the Cullen's?".
She sighed softly "you caught that did you?", she asked rhetorically.
I nodded anyway and Angela lowered her voice to nothing more then a whisper.
"The Cullen's are five kids who go to this school, people won't associate with them because they see them as freaks", she said her tone showing her clear disagreement.
"You see that table there", she muttered nodding to a table near the entrance of the canteen, close to where we were seated in the middle.
"They are the Cullen's".
They were beautiful, every one of them.
They looked nothing alike apart from two; they were both tall and blonde with perfect features and figures, one a girl the other a boy.
The girl was tall with a figure and face any model would kill for but she sent off an aura of foreboding, as if to warn not to approach her. Her beauty flawless but her eyes had dark shadows that told of sleepless nights and were deep with untold secrets. Her frame was perhaps a bit too thin, her skin a little too pale for how one would imagine her to look.
The boy had a lackadaisical feeling to him as he slouched in his seat, chewing idly. His hair flopped into his eyes and his limbs seemed to be awkward, as if too big for him to know what to do with them. He seemed to have a calm aura about him but his eyes showed raging emotions within, desperately seeking escape.
There was a tiny little one, not even five foot I was sure, with short spiky black hair and pointed features. She was dressed impeccably, they all were. She seemed to have a fun aura surrounding her but there was a tightness in her eyes that made one think that she was holding her cards close to her chest.
Another was big and burly with a head of dark curly hair and a broad grin that seemed permanently etched into his face. He seemed boisterous as he ruffled the blonde boy's hair and laughed loudly. He seemed to be the only one among them with a clear face and honest eyes, as if his every secret was laid out before you, his eyes hid nothing.
"The little one, with spiky black hair is Alice Cullen, she's seventeen", Angela informed me quietly. "The two blondes are Rosalie and Jasper Hale, they're twins", she murmured "and the big guy is Emmett Cullen".
I pondered this for a moment and finally opened my mouth to question Angela "So what's so weird about them, apart from being so good looking, they seem pretty normal", I whispered, hoping they couldn't hear us.
Angela shook her head "It's ridiculous really, they're all perfectly nice. It's just that they are all adopted", she said.
"So, what difference does that make?", I asked not seeing the logic in all this.
"No it's who they were adopted by", Angela whispered leaning towards me "they were all adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Cullen and everyone knows that they only take in troubled kids".
"What do you mean by troubled?", I asked my eyes firmly set n the Cullen table.
"We don't know for sure", she whispered taking a drink from her soda "Jasper and Rosalie were the latest to be adopted, nobody really knows what happened to them but they were really difficult to handle when they first came".
I looked at her quizzically, silently encouraging her to continue.
"When they first came, Rosalie was all over the place, she'd start screaming at you if you so much as looked at her and other times she'd just break down crying", Angela's eyes softened and she went on without prompting "she was putting up this tough front but you could tell that inside she was struggling". "She was so thin it almost made you sick to look at her, she was extremely anorexic, she never ate and sometimes you could hear her retching in the bathrooms, she went away for a while too, to some sort of clinic", Angela didn't say it like it was gossip you could tell she was genuinely concerned.
"And Jasper, he was a mess. He had serious anger issues, still does at times", she shook her head in what I assumed was remembrance. "Some guy said something about Rosalie once, and the guy was in hospital for weeks after wards. People are always intimidated by Emmett but Jasper's the real one they should watch out for", she mumbled.
"What happened to them?", I found myself asking.
Angela shook her head "I have no idea, no one does but honestly why would they tell us?".
I nodded. She was right, I wouldn't either.
"Alice used to have these fits all the time, still does every now and again", she said her eyes wide and I had a feeling that if any of the Cullen's stories had gotten to Angela, it was this one. "They were a bit like epileptic fits".
"But that's pretty common, why would anyone hold that against her?", I asked shocked by the narrow mindedness of the town.
"Well the thing is they aren't actually epileptic fits", Angela stared down at the table "she would say these things, while she was having one".
"What sort of things?", I asked softly.
Angela peeled her eyes away from the smooth surface and stared at me with frightened eyes. "Things about the… future, the thing is they always came true".
I could tell that Angela didn't want to talk about this and I couldn't help but wonder what it was Alice had predicted.
"And Emmett?", I prompted the change in subject.
She seemed relieved for the redirection and smiled warmly again. "Well Emmett's different from the rest, he's not the type to hide things, he told every one straight off what his story was", Angela said. "He was a drug addict, grew up in some pretty bad parts you know?".
I nodded and figured that there wasn't really all that much more I needed to know.
I had been right though. Angela had said that Emmett had told everyone straight off what his story was, he didn't keep secrets.
"Wait!", I exclaimed suddenly, Angela stared at me, surprised. "Didn't you say that there were five Cullen's?".
Angela nodded her smile faltering for a moment.
"That's Edward", she said smiling easily.
"Is he not in today?", I asked curious about the missing Cullen.
"He is", Angela muttered, nodding towards the table farthest from the Cullen's.
Sitting there was a beautiful lone boy.
He was tall and lanky with bronze hair and chiselled features. Set in his handsome face were a pair of emerald green eyes, that I was sure could shine with emotion, making him even more beautiful, a near impossible feat. However his eyes did not shine with emotion. They were empty, bottomless and hollow. His whole face was emotionless, blank, dead. He seemed like nothing more then a shell. He ate the food laid before him robotically and stared blankly ahead, seeing everything and nothing.
I couldn't control the shudder that overcame me as his hollow eyes met mine. It seemed an automatic response to my staring but there was no hint of recognition, interest or mild curiosity within his eyes.
This beautiful boy was empty.
"He's always like that, never talks either", she muttered, a similar shudder racking her body.
"What's wrong with him?", I asked my voice breaking.
Angela shrugged and looked away.
I turned my eyes on him again and saw myself reflected in his dead eyes. The me I feared, the one I dreaded becoming.
Empty, hollow, dead.
Finally, you have no idea how hard this was to write. Emmett's POV was awful and I apologise for that but I'm rather pleased with Bella's. I hope you are too.
Like I said earlier I'm looking for a beta for this story so let me know if you're interested.
Review please.
