She paused when she reached into the cabinet for her hot chocolate, remembering Tyler's comments from the day before. Amethyst poked around to find tea instead, but was disappointed when she could only find green tea she knew belonged to her mother.
The girl pulled her jacket tighter around her body when she stepped outside. A white button down, left untucked and topped with an emerald green sweater covered her torso, which she also wrapped in her heaviest rain jacket. Amethyst had pulled on a pair of compression shorts underneath her black jeans and wrapped up her knee again before sliding on her boots again. She had grown rather tired of them, but wasn't going to risk her knee giving out on heels in front of the entire school.
Tyler hadn't pulled up yet, surprising Amethyst as she was never ready before the boy. She had expected to be running late that morning, given she had curled her hair and taken extra time with her makeup in preparation for going to the Cullen's house. The girl checked her watch and saw that it was about five minutes before he would pull up on a normal day.
"Not being able to find a position to sleep because your mother kicked you down the stairs probably helps you get ready earlier than most people," she grumbled, working her way down from her porch and heading to Tyler's house.
The morning was exceptionally cold to the brunette. Her wrist ached from her school bag hanging there, but she refused to pull her hands out of her pockets to adjust it.
Amethyst found herself struggling up the stairs to Tyler's house, ones that were much steeper than her own. She finally reached the top and raised her hand to knock, only for the door to open and a body collide with her own.
Fire erupted inside of her as Tyler crashed into her stomach without looking, making her slam backward into the porch railing behind her.
"Amethyst! Damn it," he said, trying to grab the girl only to be swatted away. She was in enough pain without him trying to put his hands on her. "What can I do? I'm so sorry. Do you want ice? Come sit down."
"No," she said, surprised there was air left in her lungs. Tears were prickling at her eyes, but she was doing everything in her power to not let them fall. "We were late yesterday and can't afford to be late today."
Tyler shook his head and grabbed her hand. "Come inside and sit down. Our parents will understand."
Amethyst yanked her hand out of his, wincing as she smacked her own leg due to the force she used to do so. The boy turned to her in surprise. "Please, Tyler, let's just go." She turned and walked down the stairs slowly, hearing the door pull shut behind them.
He joined her halfway down the stairs and tried to reach over to help her, but she pushed his hands away for the second time that day.
"Why will you not let me help you?" He sounded angry, which spiked Amethyst's anger as well.
"I'm not some doll who you need to baby every single damn step of the way. I can manage well enough on my own, thanks."
Tyler threw his hands to the air in frustration when they got to the bottom step. "Fine. Take your damn tea," he said, shoving a thermos into her hand. "Don't expect any more of it. Don't expect any arms to be thrown around you to help with your constantly freezing temperature that you won't do anything to fix. Don't expect any more rides, shared meals or anything. You clearly can't handle having real friends and I'm done with you snapping at me and not letting me in when I consider you one of my best friends. Happy December." The boy walked to his van and jumped in, starting it and leaving without Amethyst.
She stood there in shock, the thermos of tea beginning to grow too warm for her hand. She turned around and put it down on the stairs to his house and made her way back to her own house slowly.
Amethyst started her car and cranked the heat, not really feeling it as she pulled away from her house toward the school. She stopped and bought herself hot chocolate at the gas station and still pulled into the school early enough crowds were out in the lot.
She sighed and leaned her head back against the seat, cradling her drink to try and calm her shivers. The bell sounded through the lot, forcing the girl to cut her engine and climb out of the car.
"Hey." Amethyst jumped horribly, losing her grip on her drink momentarily. A hand snatched it before the cup could hit the ground, and the girl followed that arm up to an angry looking Alice. "I told you to ride with Tyler today."
"Circumstances rendered that impossible." She snatched her drink back and moved as quickly as her body could back to the school.
Alice followed beside her, still glaring up at the brunette. "Now you're going to get lost. What circumstances?"
Amethyst ignored the question, instead feeling herself snap again. "Great, so now I just can't do anything right, including something that hasn't even happened yet. Thanks, Alice, great confidence builder there. Actually, why don't you just finish the project on your own?"
"You have all the pictures."
She dug around in her bag until she found the case for her memory card and external hard drive, forcing the small chip into the girl's hand. "There, now what excuse do you have?"
"It's a group project and I'm not going to be the one left with all the responsibility." The short girl had a surprisingly tight grip on her arm, forcing her to turn. "What is wrong with you? I know you're normally defensive but you're just downright rude today."
Tears welled up into the girl's eyes again and she turned around, throwing her fist against the brick wall of her building. The pain made her calm down slightly as whispers echoed around the two of them. Neither girl said anything as the crowds walked by, staring and commenting.
"Feel better?"
A tear slid down from Amethyst's eye. "No. I feel worse." She was upset her anger had pushed her to throw a punch. She had promised herself to never be like her parents, but she was so overwhelmed by life something inside of her snapped.
Alice's hand appeared on the taller girl's shoulder with a handkerchief. "Wrap it in this and clean it after class. You don't have time right now."
She mindlessly took the object and used it to dab at her face, hoping her makeup would blend over the tear track. Amethyst looked down and saw her knuckles were scraped, figuring out that was what Alice had given her the cloth for originally. She wrapped it up and walked into her class, sitting down in the back moments before the bell rang.
After class, she walked to Mr. Gulden and looked at the man apprehensively. He reached over and grabbed her homework out of the stack the class had passed forward. He glanced through her answers, nodding slowly.
Mr. Gulden looked up with a small smile. "Impeccable as usual, Ms. Ashford. Don't show up late again."
"Yes sir," she said, quickly leaving the classroom but knowing his eyes were on her as she did.
Amethyst went to wash her hands, trying not to cry when the soap stung her cuts. She also rinsed out the handkerchief as much as she could before walking to physics.
"I don't want it back," Alice said the instant the brunette slid in next to her.
A frown pulled at her lips. "Am I that gross?"
Her tinkling laugh suited the small girl. "Not at all, I just have enough and you never know when you need one." She smiled at Amethyst, their argument from earlier easily forgotten.
"I'll follow you guys home today after school to help you with the project."
"I truly am concerned about you getting lost," Alice said, her face turning to a slight frown. "We'll figure something out after school."
When Amethyst walked to lunch, Tyler was waiting outside the cafeteria. She didn't say anything to him as they got in line.
"Did you drink the tea?"
"No. I left the thermos on your doorstep so you could find it when you got home."
"You should've drunk the tea."
"You told me not to expect it anymore," Amethyst said, picking up a cup of soup. "I didn't want to make it part of my daily routine."
Tyler groaned in frustration as they moved to pay for their food. "Look, let's just get a table for you, me and Angela. We have a lot of talking to do."
She shrugged and walked to an empty table. "You guys can sit if you want. Angela probably won't want to move away from Ben."
"That's not true." The tall girl slid in next to her friends who both turned toward her. "Ben may mean a lot to me, but you do as well." Angela's cheeks reddened, something that would make Amethyst smile on any other day.
The girl opened her soup and started stirring it, not making eye contact with either person at the table. For the first time, the silence around the group was awkward as they all picked at their food.
Angela broke first, leaning over and pulling Amethyst's hands into hers. "You need to tell us what's going on with you."
"Who says anything's going on with me?"
"You're intolerably moody, you move like you're 80, your face is bruised and you've been lying to us about why, you literally are always cold and won't eat anything and you punched a wall earlier today." Tyler ticked the issues off on his fingers. "Not to mention the way you acted while Angela was in your house when you mom came down stairs, which has to have something to do with why I'm not allowed in your house. Plus, everyone's saying you punched a wall today, a fact confirmed by the state of your knuckles."
The girl immediately grew defensive. "I was trying to eat when Angela grabbed my hands," she said, feeling as if that was the safest argument to pick.
"No, you were picking at your food, just like always." Tyler leaned forward. "You owe us the truth."
"I don't owe you anything."
The boy's laugh as filled with mirth. "You would be even more miserable here if I hadn't dragged you to our table."
"I literally took a hit for you," Angela added, her hands still on Amethyst's. "But it doesn't matter. Because we're friends and we're concerned. So talk to us."
She sighed and pulled her hands out from under the other girl's. "I fell down the stairs because I have a cold. I got dizzy and lost my footing. It's the same reason I'm so cold and don't feel hungry," she lied. Although she did give them information she didn't actually know, so she supposed it wasn't all a lie. "And I just got overwhelmed this morning and did punch a wall."
Angela's face softened but Tyler's didn't. "You haven't said a word about the flu and I'm pretty sure people don't react that dramatically."
"I guess the weather is just dragging me down more than most," Amethyst replied, not breaking eye contact with the boy. She knew how to lie and would not break for the people of Forks. Even though the two at her table mattered to her more than she would really like to admit, she wasn't going to drag them into her mess.
Tyler finally nodded and leaned back, his face relaxing as well. "You would tell us if something was wrong, wouldn't you?"
"Of course." The reply was instant, but Amethyst knew better than to look at him when she delivered it, instead forcing a bite of her soup.
When they left government that day, Tyler pulled her to his side and hissed the top of her head, careful to keep his arm around her shoulders. "Have fun today. I'm sorry I didn't drive you."
"It's okay. I probably deserved it anyway."
"Little bit," he replied, smirking at her.
Another hand grabbed her from the other side, yanking her away from Tyler and jolting the girl to the point where it was painful. "Sorry lover boy, we have a project due tomorrow."
He laughed as Amethyst tried to break Alice's grip, but the shorter girl held tight as they walked to the Jetta in the parking lot.
Alice turned to look at her when they reached the car and put her hand out. "Keys."
"Um, no?"
"Do you not trust me?"
Amethyst put a hand on her car protectively. "My grandparents and I bought this car together and I love it. No one else has ever driven it."
"And Jasper will do a great job, now trust me and hand them over."
"Jasper?"
She nodded, her hand still out expectantly. "He's going to drive your car back to the house. Rosalie drove her car with Emmett and you'll ride with Edward and myself."
"Can I not just drive with directions or a GPS or something?"
"I've told you that you will get lost if you drive. It doesn't matter the circumstance."
Amethyst heard a jingle and looked over to see her keys in Jasper's hand as he smirked, having seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"I'm pretty sure this is illegal."
Alice waved to Jasper and pulled Amethyst over to the silver Volvo. Edward was watching them with a barely noticeable smirk as the slightly girl basically shoved the brunette into the back of the car. She met his gaze in the mirror, considering the different ways she could kill Alice and potentially him as well. His lips twitched up further at her, making the girl roll her eyes and look away.
"I still don't understand why you're so convinced I'd get lost."
Alice sighed, looking out the window as Edward pulled out of the mostly empty lot. "Because our house is hard to find and there are places in Forks where it'd be difficult for us to navigate you back from and we didn't want you to end up there."
"So your solution was grant theft auto?"
"We didn't steal your car. Jasper will take care of it. Better than anyone else, actually, barring Rosalie."
Amethyst leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms, before another thought brought her back forward. "Why couldn't I just ride with him in my car then?"
"You ask a lot of questions." Edward's voice surprised the girl, with an attractive quality to it. Although, it wasn't as alluring as Jasper's, so she managed to shove the thought aside.
"You don't answer a lot of questions." His smirk annoyed her, as it gave him a look of knowing something she didn't.
Alice turned the radio up then, effectively ending the conversation. Edward's eyes glanced back to Amethyst one more time.
"Put on your seat belt."
"Keep your eyes on the road," she snapped back, annoyed at being treated like a child.
The rest of the ride to their house was quiet. Amethyst was surprised by the long driveway leading back to their house, but it was nothing compared to her feelings when she saw their house.
A large, three-story house was painted an off white with a similarly colored porch wrapped around it. There was a certain gracefulness to it that intrigued the girl who couldn't take her eyes off of it.
"What do you think?"
She looked away from the window to see Alice smiling back at her while Edward looked at her in the mirror.
"I wouldn't have gotten lost while driving here," she grumbled, opening the car door to climb out.
They had parked in front of a giant garage, where Amethyst presumed at least ten cars could fit. The home itself seemed to tower over her and she instantly fell in love with it.
As she trailed behind Edward and Alice toward the door, she heard another car coming up the driveway. Before she could turn to look, she felt the heat rolling off her own car onto her leg. Amethyst looked in surprise as Jasper parked her car a mere foot from her.
He climbed out with a small smirk on his face, tossing the keys over to her. "Still in one piece," Jasper commented, walking by her into the house.
The electric blue eyes gazed at the gap between her legs and the car, surprised she wasn't more disturbed by it. A hand tugged on her jacket and brought the girl back to reality, following Alice inside.
"Welcome home." A beautiful woman with caramel hair practically floated down the stairs, smiling at the three who walked in the door. "I'm Esme," she said, focusing on the brunette.
"Amethyst," the girl replied, staring at the woman unintentionally. "Pleasure to meet you."
The woman's smile was so kind, drawing Amethyst instantly to her. Esme's look shifted to the three around the girl, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"Aren't any of you going to take Amethyst's coat or offer her a drink?"
"No, it's really fine," she laughed as the three turned to her at once. "I'll keep my jacket if you don't mind."
Esme tilted her head slightly with a look of concern on her face. "Is it cold in here? We can warm it up."
"No, no, it's really just me," she waved the woman off with a small laugh. "I do appreciate it though."
"We can warm it up before you two start on your project," she said, nodding to Alice who walked away instantly. "And Jasper, will you please go make her something to drink?"
Amethyst immediately started to argue, but was silenced when the woman raised her hand. "Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?"
"Hot-" she stopped herself, thinking about Tyler. "Chai tea, please, if it isn't too much of a bother."
"Of course it isn't. Edward will take you into the living room where you can set up and wait for Alice."
Amethyst felt her feet move behind Edward as he walked past the spiral staircase to several large couches with a giant television mounted on the wall and a fireplace underneath it. She was drawn immediately to the giant glass window which overlooked a river and stared out in amazement.
"Wonderful, isn't it," Edward commented, moving to stand next to her.
She nodded, still staring out there. "I bet it's even more beautiful when it's sunny."
He chuckled. "You have no idea. Esme redid this house entirely before we moved here. It's more than one hundred years old."
"Wow," she whispered, pulling her focus back inside to the interior. "It's fantastic."
"Thank you so much," Esme said, smiling when she walked back into the room with Jasper. The boy was carrying a mug in his hand, steam rising from the rim. "It's so nice to have people over so I can show it off."
Amethyst walked over to Jasper to take the mug from him, muttering her thanks as she wrapped her hands around the warm mug. Their hands brushed during the exchange, his fingers ghosting over the cuts on her knuckles from earlier. He immediately stepped away, causing Amethyst to look down with slight embarrassment.
"Be careful," Esme warned, drawing the girl's attention back to her, before she turned to her sons. "Boys, upstairs. Alice and Amethyst are not to be bothered." She raised an eyebrow but had a smile on her face, a fact the girl appreciated.
The brunette blew across the mug to chase the steam away as the two boys made their way upstairs. Amethyst smiled at the woman when it was just the two of them.
"I really do appreciate this."
"Nonsense," Esme smiled at the girl. "It's nice to have people in the house."
"Mom, we're ready." Alice walked back in with a laptop while Emmett trailed behind her with a printer. They quickly hooked up the equipment as Amethyst sipped on her tea, unsure of how to help.
Esme asked Emmett for his help with something after he set up the printer. He tossed a wink at Amethyst before following his mother out.
"Your family is wonderful," Amethyst muttered to Alice as she went to sit beside the girl, sliding her mug onto a coaster.
"They're pretty good," the small girl murmured as she powered up the laptop, "but I wouldn't recommend living with them. I still have your memory card, but did you bring your laptop?"
"Your mother is literally perfect for the role." Amethyst thought about her own mother with distaste as she walked over to her bag she had dropped by the end of the couch and pulled it out, booting it up as she walked back. "Where are the canvases?"
Alice was staring at something on the screen with scrunched eyebrows. "Labeled and sorted, still upstairs in my room. Hey, did you give me the correct memory card? There are all cool, but not what I was looking for."
Amethyst blushed, realizing she had wiped the project from her card to make room for her photography assignment.
The girls printed all their images and finished up the lab report. Amethyst shed her coat halfway through, surprisingly warmed by the house. After reading through a hard copy of the report to make sure everything made sense, the taller girl stood up and stretch, groaning slightly when the action made her muscles ache.
"Getting old, are we?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow when the sound escaped the other girl.
Amethyst snorted, draining the last of her tea. "Something like that. Should put my cup in the sink or dishwasher?"
"Nah, just leave it there," Alice said, shutting her laptop and looking up at the girl. "Are you okay?"
"Of course. Why?" A small amount of panic rose up inside the girl as she reached over to grab her coat.
The black haired girl shrugged. "That stretch sounded painful and I wanted to make sure you hadn't actually sprained an ankle or something. You haven't worn heels in a few days."
Amethyst raised an eyebrow, looking down at her boots. "Well yeah, everything's fine. Thanks for checking."
Alice walked the girl out to her car in the driveway, making small talk. Amethyst tightened her jacket as much as she could, surprised by the cold after being inside the house, and stood outside of her Jetta with a raised eyebrow.
"So you'll let me drive home but you won't let me drive here?"
"It's easiest to get lost the first time you go somewhere," Alice explained away, smiling at the girl. "We'll see you at school tomorrow."
Amethyst climbed into her car, cranking the heat back up. She also had to slide her seat forward and adjust all her mirrors, causing a twinge of irritation inside the girl toward Jasper Hale before she put the Jetta into gear and headed home.