Interest

"Uncle Edward…your eyes are…" I couldn't finish my thought. He stared intently at me as if I was causing him this pain.

"Hope, who is he?" He? Who was he referring to? The only he I could think of was William. "Who is William?"

"Wait, how did you know about William?"

"You're around a lot of humans, so I can read your read your mind, now. And…Alice to told me," he admitted.

I was going to have to talk to Aunt Alice and her stupid visions. "Oh, well what about him?" I wanted to know where this conversation was headed.

"Hope, you are my little girl. You know I only want the best for you and I don't like William."

"Well, Uncle Edward, I remember a story about Charlie not liking you and only wanting the best for Aunt Bella. Did you agree with him?" I retorted.

"That's different." His gaze shot back to the road as were steadily approaching the turnoff.

"I don't see how," I muttered under my breath. We broke the trees as we approached the house.

Uncle Edward turned off the car and waited for me to get out of the car before he pulled into the garage. As soon as I unlocked the front door, I was ambushed by the rest of my vampire family.

"Hope!" they screamed together as my eyes widened in shock.

"Wow," I uttered. "Thanks, but what's the occasion?"

"You finished your first day of school…without calling one of us. I think that deserves a party," Aunt Alice explained. I went around and gave everyone a round of hugs, squeezing tightly on Uncle Edward. Aunt Alice noticed he was in a rotten mood. "Don't be such a party pooper. She's growing up and soon she will be turning sixteen. And it's just a boy."

"Does everyone know about this?" I asked cynically.

"Yes," they all chimed in. Aunt Bella directed me away from my upset uncle and leveled herself to me.

"I personally think it's wonderful that you have made friends – boys and girls. Your Uncle Edward is just going through the motions. You are our only child, for all of us and we just don't want anyone to hurt you." She kissed me on the forehead and then hugged me as I took in her scent. She was just as sweet as my first memory of it. That was when I had my first nightmare in the house.

"Yeah and if he does decides to hurt you in any way, we'll take care of it," Uncle Emmett vowed while smashing his right fist into the center of his left hand.

"I don't think that would be necessary, Uncle Emmett. How would we able to explain the disappearance of a high school youth?" I argued.

"You got a point," he admitted.

Aunt Alice and Rosalie soon dragged me into the kitchen, along with Aunt Bella, so they can further interrogate me on William.

"So is he cute? Well, I know he's cute, but what do you think of him, Hope?" Aunt Alice inquired.

"Honestly, I don't know…" I answered, but then Uncle Edward came out of nowhere to lend his opinion of the subject.

"I knew what she thought of him and it's downright inappropriate. Hope shouldn't have those thoughts about some boy she just met on the first day of school."

"Oh, Uncle Edward, come off of it. I was thinking other people's thoughts about him. The girls that I sat at lunch with today had a very different opinion about William." I crossed my arms as he fumed in anger over my comment.

"Teenage girls," he hissed. I shot him a dirty look as Aunt Bella turned around to stare him down. Her eyes were liquid black and I had to suppress a laugh. "Love, I didn't mean you…"

"Sure you didn't." Her tone was dripping with sarcasm. Ah, poor Uncle Edward was going to put out of his room tonight. Soon, he stalked out of the kitchen defeated to rejoin the guys.

Aunt Bella left a plate of snacks in front of me, and I immediately popped a chip into my mouth. While I was munching away, Aunt Rosaline decided that she had a couple of questions herself.

"So, I hear that you have date this Friday?" I dropped the chip I was about to crunch on back to the plate. I began to wonder will I ever be able to hide anything from them. This was Aunt Alice's fault; she just couldn't keep her dang mouth shut.

I swallowed to coat my dry throat, buying some time to formulate an answer. "Yes. I do."

"Where? Is it with William?" Aunt Alice and Aunt Bella all came around to encompass me into a girl bonding circle.

"Umm, just to the party one of the girls invited me to. It's no big deal." I tried to downplay my emotions - this was a big deal, a really big deal. This was my first date and that has Uncle Edward all worked up. I was growing up.

"Hello, Hope? This is a big deal. Be ready for Friday because you are going to be transformed," Aunt Alice guaranteed.

Oh, boy. I excused myself from the vampire soiree downstairs so I could run into my room and hide from the prying. It was too much. I knew some people that could cheer me up – my mom and dad.

I pulled out my new cell phone and pushed the speed dial number two. I waited for the several rings until I heard my mother voice sound from the other side.

"Hope?"

"Mom?"

"Hi, honey? I was beginning to wonder if you were going to call. But I'm glad to hear your voice. So, how was your first day of school?"

I then narrated to her all the events that took place excluding the Spanish class incident. I even went on to tell her how I had a date this Friday.

"You know, your father is not going to be happy to know that you have an interest in boys now. But, I'm happy for you darling. Just make sure he doesn't give us a reason to come after him. And he is going to have to come over for dinner one night."

I couldn't answer her. How could I let him in on the secret life of vampires and werewolves? My family was strange enough I didn't need William to complicate the matter. "But, you and Dad live so far away. I don't see how -"

"Nonsense, Hope, we could come up and visit. Yes, that sounds wonderful. Or you guys could come down here on the weekend. No, I like the first idea. We could all spend time with your other relatives as well. Oh it will be fun – just like a reunion…" mom rambled. But, I couldn't see how any good could ever come from this.

"Mom, let's not get hasty. This is just one date, okay. For all I know, he might stand me up. Or decide not to go. It's just something to do with my time. I'll let you know when the reunion is necessary. Okay, well, I got to go. Uncle Edward isn't happy with my new interest either. Love you forever."

"Love you, Hope." She disconnected from the line and I tossed the phone onto my bed. My family was crazy.

I decided to start my homework as a way to preoccupy my mind and to give me an excuse to ignore my family downstairs. But I wondered what they were saying…

EDWARD

"I hate him," I announced. All the girls came out of the kitchen and saw me fuming in misery. I didn't want Hope to be interested in boys just yet. It was too soon, for me.

"Oh, Edward, it's just one date," Jasper noted. He and Emmett seemed to be alright over the matter, but I couldn't ignore the fact that Hope had a beau. I winced at the thought.

"Yeah, we'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Emmett joked. "Like try to hold her hand." With that he erupted with laughter, jabbing Jasper along to join him.

"Shut up!" I couldn't take it that they were joking around at a time like this. I had to think of a way to talk Hope out her date. Maybe I could buy her off. Or convince her to spend time at home with us. Maybe I could dazzle her. No, the only one that could dazzle her was Bella and that was because she was Hope's mother. Bella would never consent to coaxing Hope to stay home.

"Edward, you're going to hurt yourself thinking that hard," Rosalie kidded.

"And I already saw Hope going to the party, so you might as well just accept the fact that she's going – with a boy," Alice added. Bella lowered herself into my lap, instantly relieving some of the tension.

"Love, you know I was sorry about my comment earlier. I didn't mean it that way," I apologized again. Bella placed her luscious lips on mine, dissolving the remaining tension in my body. But too soon, she pulled away.

"I know." She was smiling at her handy work. Man, she just dazzled me. I was going to have to stay a step ahead of her next time. "Edward, you have to calm down and lay off of Hope. She's growing up and you're turning into a Charlie. She needs to have room to breathe or she's going to rebel. Don't you remember your rebel days?"

"Yes," I admitted. "But can't she just stay here. Why can't she remain my little Hope forever?"

"Because we would never turn her." Bella kissed me again.

"Just disgusting," Jasper muttered.

"Oh, I'll get it!" Alice called and she raced to the phone before it rung. In mid first ring, she picked up the receiver. "Hello...Hi William…why certainly – hold on one moment…" She called for Hope downstairs.

Hope slowly trekked downstairs and noticed how we were all waiting for her to take the phone.

"Can I have some privacy, please," she muttered.

"No," I hissed and Bella socked me in the arm. We all feigned a conversation knowing that we were concentrating on Hope's phone call.

"Hi, William…yes I'm fine…okay that sounds great…can't wait either…oh he's here…oh well I was thinking we could meet somewhere else…" Hope looked over at me, her eyes frightened.

I wondered what she was thinking.

"Okay…well, I'll see…see you tomorrow…yes, yes….bye." She giggled and almost tripped as she ran back to her room.

"What is she so happy about?" I pouted.

"Oh, Edward, you can't be the only guy in here life. I mean first she does have Sam. I don't know how he's going to take it," Bella explained before she started on her tangent of thoughts.

"Oh, I know exactly how he's going to handle it. Let's just say Edward is the lesser of the two evils." Alice shrugged her shoulders as she laughed nervously.

"I guess there is no stopping her now. The boy has already called. Hope has a" – gulp – "date." The last word came out more as a squeak. I lifted Bella from my lap and went over to the piano to play out my emotions. The sun was setting through the house, so Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett decided it was time to leave. Bella showed them the door and went into the kitchen to clean as I played.

I finished banging out a new composition titled "I Hate Him" when Bella came out of the kitchen and began to go upstairs. "Where do you think you're headed?" I asked.

She smiled as she continued to head upstairs. "To bed."

"But you don't sleep?"

"Exactly."

I dashed up behind her pulling her waist closer towards mine. I left a trail of kisses along her neckline until I pulled away. "I can't do this when all I can think about is some guy and my Hope." For all I knew, he was probably thinking about doing the same thing to Hope as I was to Bella.

"Oh, Edward, you are so overprotective," she chuckled, before releasing herself from my grasp leaving me on the staircase.

So what what about Edward?? Review...