Chapter 10

Edward POV

We all returned home from the museum around six o'clock, and Maggie and I spent the remainder of the evening practicing our piece. She expressed how nervous she was that we didn't have enough time to perfect the piece because she was in the hospital, but there were only three mistakes through the whole time we practiced. Carlisle stopped us at eight, saying that Margaret needed to get into bed so she would be rested enough to return to school.

After walking her to her room, and letting the tiny human rap her arms around my neck and place a kiss on my cheek, I joined the others down in the family room.

"Ooh!" Emmett's voice teased from his place on the recliner, "here comes lover boy!"

I just rolled my eyes, taking the empty spot next to Dr. Cullen on the couch. "I can't believe you took her to the Aphrodite statue!" Alice said, a small laugh in her voice, "That's so cheesy!"

Her and Emmett shared a long and loud laugh. After Margaret and I shared our first kiss, and Margaret's first ever kiss, my siblings found us sitting on the bench. While they didn't say anything about it while we were still in the exhibit, I could hear all of their thoughts loud and clear. Most of their thoughts were teasing with traces of it being sweet and corny. "We sat at a bench so I could let her rest." I explained, folding my arms across my chest, "It just so happened to be right there."

"Sure Edward." Jasper said, turning the page in his worn book, "We believe you." More laughs came from the others in the room.

I saw that Esme shook her head, a smile on her face. "Margaret looked very happy when you returned home. I'm sure it was a very nice date for her." She said.

It warmed my un-beating heart to see my adoptive mother so happy. She worried about all of us, Margaret included. And it wasn't any secret that she tended to worry about me more than my other siblings because I was alone. But now, she seemed more relaxed about my mental state because I was enjoying myself with the human girl asleep upstairs.

A huff from the corner of the room broke me out of my thoughts and to the blonde standing in the corner. "So, they're happy now, but what about in a week? Or a month?" Rosalie said, a serious look on her face, "What about if, or when, she finds about who we all really are? What are all of our cousins going to say when they come for the holidays? What about when she has to go back to live with her grandmother? Or when they break up? We all remember how Edward was after the whole Bella situation…"

"That's enough Rosalie." Carlisle interrupted, sensing where this was all leading to. I was thankful he stopped her when he did, "Why can't we all just live in the moment, and relish in this happy day for your brother and that poor human girl? She's been through hell recently, and having one nice and normal day for her won't ruin the rest of our lives."

Before I could hear Rosalie's rebuttal, I excused myself to my room for the night. Passing my room and the other bedrooms, I wanted to make sure that Maggie was sleeping peacefully before actually going into my room. The door opened quietly and I suck my head in: Maggie was curled up under the heavy quilt with Pebbles and Tenderheart in her arms while the other animals were all tucked into the bed next to her. A smile formed on my face as I closed the door behind me.

Margaret was not the average girl, and I was beginning to really see what I was getting myself into with her.

Maggie POV

There were only fifteen more days until Christmas, and eleven more until the Winter concert, when I found myself franticly trying to prefect my portion of the piano piece. Edward was out for the day, feeling a little under the weather today and taking a sick day. I took advantage of this to play in a relaxed way and without the pressure of being prefect in front of him.

As my hands flew across the ivory keys, I couldn't help but let the worry of what was happening after school into my mind. Alice had me write down my name and place it into a sequenced silver stocking before we left for school. She explained that everyone in the house has done a Secret Santa ever since all of them moved in together, and they insisted that I be included this year. At first, I thought it was neat because I was never in one of these drawings before. But now, I was making myself really nervous over this. My money was tight and I had no clue what the budget for this was going to be. Plus, I only felt confident enough with some of the Cullen's to know exactly what I would get them for Christmas, not all of them.

Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts and heard the bell ring. With a sigh, I folded up the piece of music and placed back into the folder before grabbing my backpack and heading into the hall. I needed to grab my history textbook from my locker before class, and weaved carefully through the halls to get there. They seemed more crowded than usual, but I think part of that reason was because Edward was gone today. I fell into our routine of him walking me to and from class for a couple of weeks that it was strange to walk alone now.

I reached my locker and dialed in the combination quickly, not wanting to be late to history. Slowly bending down, I reached my book on the bottom shelf and made sure that I had everything I needed. Again, I slowly stood up with my books in my hands and was ready to close my locker when it was slammed shut in front of my face.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is." Hannah taunted, turning to give a smug look at Ivy to her right, "Maggie the Mouse is all alone today."

Biting my bottom lip, I tried to refrain from saying anything that would start trouble. "Look Hannah," Ivy said, "it seems like the Cullen's must have brainwashed her into being silent."

I heard Hannah huff as I tried to move around them, "Do you blame them?" She asked, moving so she was blocking the space between her and Ivy, "I wouldn't want to hear a crying orphan all day long either. Granny isn't doing too well these days, is she Maggie?"

"Is it true that you're Dr. Cullen's volunteer work for the year?" Ivy asked, pushing her glasses up higher on her face, "Because I know that doctors and nurses need a certain number of hours every year."

That made Hannah laugh, "That's the only way I'd take her into my home." She clarified, "I'd need to payed to let her sleep there, of course. There's no way she's worth a free stay."

"Can you just leave me alone?" I asked, a little aggression in my voice, "I need to get to class."

They both looked at each other with their eyes widened, "Ooh, the mouse has a mouth on her!" Hannah said, walking forward to cause me to take a few steps back.

"Do you talk with your new boyfriend in that tone?" Ivy spat, following her friend's motions and stepping towards me, "Oh wait, he must be a charity case too. Who could every tolerate you in that kind of way?"

My back bumped against the wall and I pulled my books closer to my chest. It was this point when I noticed that the upper-classmen from the Cullen house were standing close by, watching what was going on. "Just let me go to class." I said, not looking them in the eye.

By the time I realized what was actually happening, my face contacted a flying fist. Hannah had let her angry fist fly and it landed on my right cheek hard. Another came to the left once I actually reached the ground, and I tried to protect myself with my arms. Not only did I want to protect my face, but the stitches that were still healing on my stomach. My defensive position was to use my hands to cover my face and curl into a ball to protect my stomach.

Coach Shae and Mr. Reid were there quickly to pull both girls off of me, yelling at the both of them to knock it off. "Maggie!" someone cried, close to my body on the ground, "Maggie, talk to me!"

I peeled my arms away to see Alice kneeled at my side, looking over my body carefully. "My face." I said quietly, trying to keep back tears, "She punched me in the face."

When my eyes opened all the way, I saw the others there too. Jasper and Rosalie seemed to be holding an angry looking Emmett back. "What happened?" The curly haired Jasper asked, worry on his face.

"They wouldn't leave me alone." I explained, sitting up carefully and holding my bruising cheeks, "I just wanted to get to class."

"Did you fight back?" Emmett growled, causing my eyes to widen in shock.

I just shook my head no, no wanting anything to do with violence in the first place. At that moment, I was just as lost and confused as they were as to why I was even confronted in the first place. And where was Maria? She usually tagged along with these two now a days, and she was absent for the whole ordeal.

Before I could ponder anymore, I saw Mr. Reid approach us, "Miss. Kringle, you'll have to join us in the Vice Principal's office young lady."

Alice stood up, offering a helping hand for me. "She just got the crap beat out of her!" I heard Emmett say, disgust in his voice, "Can't you tell that it wasn't her fault from her poor face?!"

"This is school policy Mr. Cullen." The strict English teacher explained, "And aren't the rest of you late for your classes?"

The muscular boy came up to my left side, with the usually cheery Alice occupying my right, "This is a family matter, we're not leaving until we know what's going to happen with Maggie, right guys?"

Alice gave a firm nod, an unusually stern look on her face. Jasper gave an agreeing nod too, even Rosalie gave an almost unnoticeable nod herself. Mr. Reid let out a sigh, "Fine, we just need to get going."

The English teacher led the rest of us down the hall and to the Vice Principal's office. I never had to go to the Vice Principal's office before for anything. I am a good kid and don't get myself into trouble, especially at school. So, on top of not knowing what was going to happen with me because of this, I now began to panic about this being my first time in the office.

We reached the large office and he had us sit outside of his door on some plastic chairs. Emmett made sure I sat down ok before sitting next to me, looking over my face, "That's a nasty color." He muttered, looking over my face.

I felt my face turn into a frown at his remark, knowing well that I was going to bruise and swell because of this. When I looked over to the left, I saw the school's nurse making her way down the hall in a hurry. Mrs. O'Sullivan held two ice packs in her hands and a surprised look was on her face, "When Mr. Kelly called, I didn't think you'd be this bruised." She said, kneeling in front of me and placing the freezing packs on my face, "Keep these on or you'll swell."

"Of course, she's going to swell!" the muscular Senior said with a glare in his eyes, "She was attacked in the hall way!"

Mrs. O'Sullivan sent him a deadly looking glare right back, "That is not my job, Mr. Cullen. I was told to bring ice to a young lady who was punched in the face." The older woman turned to face me, "When they defrost, a bag of peas will do the trick. I'm going to call your legal guardian to let them know what's happening and come to pick you up." I just nodded, a mixture of embarrassment and anxiety churning in my stomach.

When she left, all five of us just sat and waited for the Vice Principal to come and get me from the chair. Time ticked slowly, and I began to feel worse and worse.

"I'm sorry Mags." I head Emmett whisper. He was focused on a spot on the ground and his hands were fists. That just made me feel worse. I didn't understand why he felt sorry for me when I was too weak to defend myself to begin with. I should've gotten away from them before it turned violent in the first place instead of just let them take me down like they did.

Finally, the door opened and the other girls stepped out with annoyed expressions on their faces. Mr. Kelly stepped out too, a little shocked to see more than just me waiting for him, "Miss. Kringle, you're up." He announced, waiting for me to stand up and follow him in.

It seemed like a long and dark walk into his office, and the office itself was dreary looking and made me feel more awful. He closed the door behind us and I took a seat in the chair that was in front of his desk. "Can I offer you something to drink Miss. Kringle?" Mr. Kelly asked, going behind his desk after I shook my head.

With a long sigh, he sat down and shuffled through some papers. "What's going to happen to me?" I whispered after a moment of silence.

"Well," Mr. Kelly began, finally looking me in the eye, "Mrs. O'Sullivan informed me that she called your guardian, so you will be going home early today. And Miss. Lennon and Miss. Pidge are suspended for five days because of their actions. We do not tolerate violence at this school."

I bit my bottom lip, "So you know I didn't do anything wrong?"

"I know you did not participate in physical violence." The vice principal explained, "However, those girls clamed you expressed some hurtful words to them. Care to enlighten me on that?"

My jaw fell slack, "That's a lie Mr. Kelly!" I cried, "They're the ones who approached my locker and taunted me about my sick grandma and living with the Cullen's! All I did was try and leave to make it to Mr. Pierce's class on time!"

Mr. Kelly took a couple of notes down on the notepad in front of him, "Miss. Lennon and Miss. Pidge say that you were aggressive towards them as well. Saying that you were better than them and such things."

"That is a lie!" I felt tears coming to my tender eyes at this point, "Mr. Kelly you need to believe me! They have done nothing but try and ruin my life since Grandma Eileen was put into a coma!"

He held up a hand to stop me, causing me to shut my mouth quickly. "Miss. Kringle, while I am not sure who said what to who at this point, it is obvious who was hurt more." The vice principal explained, "So at this point, you are free of consequence. But I do not want to see you in this office again for this kind of situation. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir." I mumbled, standing up slowly from my seat when he came back around and opened the door to his office.

Esme was standing out there along with the other upper-classmen. She wrapped me in a hug, sending glares to the vice principal when they made eye contact, "Are you alright dear?" Esme said, pulling me away to get a better look at my face.

I didn't say anything, not feeling much better after being called a liar by the vice principal of my school. "Mrs. Cullen, Margaret needs to be taken home for the rest of the day." Mr. Kelly instructed, "I'm sure your children could pick up the remainder of her assignments for her."

She sent more eye daggers his way, then softened her eyes drastically when she looked at me, "Yes, I'm sure they will. Let's head home Margaret." With that, she turned around and led me carefully out of the building. The rest of the Cullen/Hale gang followed us to the school's front entrance to say goodbye.

The car ride was quiet and I noticed Esme driving much more quickly than I thought she would have. She looked really angry, more angry and upset than I had ever seen her before. When we got home, Esme didn't say a word as she led me into the kitchen and sat me down on the chair. She took the now soggy ice packs from my face and pulled out a bag of frozen peas to replace them with.

"I'm sorry Esme." I whispered, closing my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at her reaction, "I'm really sorry."

I felt her hands come onto my lap, assuming that she knelt down in front of me. "Why are you apologizing Margaret? This was not your fault."

"I wouldn't have gotten a black eye if I would've stood up for myself!" I mumbled, letting a tear slip from my eye, "And now I've got this ugly bruise to add to my ugly scar."

A sigh escaping her mouth made me open my eyes and look at her, "Margaret Eileen Kringle," She began, standing up and taking my free hand into both of hers, "you are such a beautiful young lady. A scar or a bruise or a blemish do not take away from the beauty you behold: inside and out." Esme gave me a firm look, showing that she was deadly serious, "And those girls put you into a sticky situation. One where I would have acted the same way as you."

"But I should've stood up for myself!" I exclaimed, looking away from her gaze.

"And what would you have done?" She asked, "Fight back? Use hurtful word? Become just like them?" I shook my head after a moment, letting her words sink in, "The best thing you could've done in that situation was try to get away. And you tried to do just that. It is just unfortunate that you couldn't get away before it became physical."

Slowly and carefully, Mrs. Cullen stood me up and wrapped tender arms around me. I let a couple of sobs escape and she just stood and rubbed my back in a comforting way. "Thank you, Esme." I whispered after a minute or two of crying.

"Why don't we go upstairs and try to rest?" She suggested, leading me to the family room so we could head upstairs, "I need to call Carlisle and let him know what happened and you look like you could use a nice rest."

I just agreed, feeling really exhausted all of a sudden. The doctor's wife helped me get into the large bed, folding back the quilt and handing me all of my animals to keep me company. I kept the ice pack on my face by laying on my back. Before Esme left me to rest, I called for her to wait a minute. "You're a great mom." I whispered, eyes closed.

Without looking, I heard her walk back over to my bed and shower the top of my head with gentle kisses, "Sweet dreams sweet heart. Let me know if you need anything else."

0

A knock on my door is what finally made me leave my bed. I had only slept for two hours, but decided to catch up on my reading while the house was quiet. After marking my page and setting it on the bedside table, I took the now thawed bag of peas off my face and went to the door. It was Edward, a worried look on his face when he saw my face, "This is all my fault." Was all he said, not looking away.

"What?" I asked, really confused.

Edward took my face into his hands carefully, "If I would've been there today, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

I shook my head, pulling away from his hands, "How do you know? This could've happened still."

He just looked really bummed out mixed with angry, "And how could they only be suspended?! They physically hurt you!"

"Just drop it." I mumbled, slipping past him so that we could hopefully move away from the topic if we went down stairs. He grabbed my hand while we walked the hallway to the back staircase, "I'm just grateful that I didn't get into any trouble."

We both made it into the kitchen where it appeared that a battle plan was commencing. Emmett and Jasper looked very serious while scribbling onto a piece of paper while Alice was making herself busy by shaking the stocking from his morning, "What's going on?" I asked, making them all look up.

"We're planning your revenge." Emmett said causally, holding up the piece of paper, "A combo and egging and teepeeing should do the trick."

Before I could agree to this master plan, Dr. Cullen stopped them when he entered the kitchen, "Revenge is never the answer boys, and you know it." I noticed that his wife and Rosalie followed behind him.

Jasper looked sad, dropping his red pen on the table. "But Dad! They gave her a black eye! Going to egg their houses is nothing in comparison!"

"Margaret is better than that." The good doctor explained, taking the paper from his son and looking it over, "And doesn't four dozen eggs seem like overkill?"

Emmett shook his head, "It wouldn't been for Maggie."

That made me smile, taking a seat at the table next to him. I gave him a hug, squeezing his muscled arms, "Aw Emmett! I think it's nice that you want to seek revenge, but your dad's right. We're better than that."

He turned so he could give me a big hug in return, fluffing up my hair after he let go, "Only because you don't want to Mags. If you were game, I would be ready in an hour."

Jasper and Edward laughed at that, both of them taking their seats at the table. Rosalie and Esme joined too, all eyes on the short and bubbly girl who sat on top of the island. "Now that we're all here, it's time to draw names for Secret Santa!"

I raised my hand, feeling like I was back in class for a moment, "What's the rules for this? Like budgets and stuff?"

"The budget is fifty dollars." Esme explained, "And you cannot pick your significant other or yourself. So, no Edward."

That made me blush. We weren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but I guess I get what they were hinting at. "And who gets to pull first?" I asked, becoming a little more excited now that I knew I would have just enough to stay with in the budget.

"Oldest to youngest?" Jasper offered, causing everyone else to nod in agreement.

With a large smile, Alice jumped off the counter and handed the stocking to her dad so he could go first. I watched all of them stir their hand around in the silver sock and pull out the tiny pieces of paper. They would peak at the name they drew and have different reactions: Carlisle and Jasper both gave smiles, Emmett sent me a wink, Rosalie placed hers into her pocket, Esme grinned about as large as Alice, and Edward just nodded his head.

"And last, but not least." Alice chirped, handing the sock over.

Reaching my hand in, I felt around for the last piece of paper. Pulling it out, I opened the folded piece of paper slowly and read the name. I tried to have the best poker face that I could when I read the fancy script on the paper, but I think I might have failed because I felt my heart drop into my stomach. There, on the paper, it read Rosalie.