Tangerine (Orange) and Laurel (Green)
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, though if I did, Emmett's personality would be more than just an older annoying brother (his character isn't properly explored in my opinion. People may say oh, no it's fine because he's shallow or something but I disagree. Bella focused on everyone but Rosalie and Emmett, not sparing them a proper thought other than when she debated her change). Sadly, I only own my plot line and my OCs.
The days started to pass by quickly as it got colder and colder. Bitterly cold and humid – a combination Mia learned to start to hate. Every time she walked outside, she noticed that every surface, every blade of grass and twig felt like brittle ice under her feet.
On the metal mailbox outside of the house, the box was always adorned with an ice sweater; the frost clung on it. Whenever Mia gazed into the distance, she notices the fog that seems to linger more and more. Like a hidden lover, seeking it's beloved. She feels it too. A bellowing, unnatural winters breathe on her skin. It whisks heat away leaving her pale. So pale that even she looks only a shade darker than the Cullens.
Night falls faster than Mia's used to. The sky which was painted with hues of red, orange and pink, slowly fades leaving only a black, twinkling canvas behind. The darkness is thicker, and it frightens her at times. The house is blessed with its warmth. But it's still not enough at night.
She scrambles the house in a frenzy at night. She needs multiple quilts to cover her when sleeping. Making the mistake of little protection against the cold seems like it could shatter her. She mentioned it to her father of course, and he found it worrying.
Mia wasn't one for the cold weather and it showed. Her winters had always been spent somewhere where the temperatures never dipped below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. So he invested in helping Mia find warmer clothes.
Her days had felt numbered. And she felt the cold getting to her. But then, as time slowly passed, her body got used to it. She got used to the chilling breeze that flitters around her as she walks to school. She got used to drinking warm drinks only, resisting the urge to drink some Cold Coffee.
And it worked. She doesn't look like a pale corpse anymore and the color has been slowly seeping back into her face.
Though she's well acquainted with the cold now, Mia found herself huddling in bed earlier than her sleeping time, either with a book or some hot cocoa almost every other day.
Due to her birthday coming up, Mia started browsing the net for cars. Her funds are well enough for her to buy a good second-handed car (or even a new one).
Ever since her fiasco about her art had gotten out, Mia has had people lining up to her to make them something. So her trips to the bank became more often due to all of the cash she had laying around in the house. And Mia noted how hard it was for her father to drop her off in places since winter started.
Getting a car would help in being faster in getting school. Which means I can sleep in later than I usually do!
Mia held the hot chocolate between her freezing hands. Her body was covered with large quantities of blankets.
Of course, the heating system just had to break down in December!
Mia let out a ferocious yawn before she shivered again. Her newly dyed hair fluttered around her.
She browsed the internet once more. The website she was currently on kept lagging.
If the computer doesn't start working now, I'm going to throw it in the blender!
A headache started up making Mia let out a groan. She gulped down the hot, scalding drink, ignoring the burning of her tongue.
"It's official. I hate winter," she grumbled to herself.
The pink-haired teenager pulled herself out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. She peered into the pantry with a sad look.
I can't believe all the cookies are done. What am I going to snack on now?
Mia trotted out of the kitchen. A loud thud was heard from the front door causing Mia to freeze. She sent a quick prayer before calling out.
"Hello?"
There was no reply. Mia grabbed the aluminum bat by the door and tightened her hands around its end. She rose it above her head and carefully moved about.
"Hey!"
Mia let out a strangled scream and dropped the bat.
"WHAT THE FUCK EMMETT!"
Said boy only grinned at her.
"You really need to learn how to pay attention to your surroundings kid. This is the second time I've frightened you."
Mia let out an animalistic growl at the hunky male.
"I'm not amused! If I didn't recognize your voice just then, your brains would've been splattered all on the floor!"
"It takes more than a bat to take me out," Emmett argued. He crossed his arms and sent her a mischievous look. Mia picked up the bat and placed it back where it belonged before mirroring his stance.
"How did you get in here? I know I locked at the door."
Emmett shrugged, "You'll be in the know soon enough. Then you'll understand how. Anyways, Mom sent me to deliver some snacks for you. We all know Chief Swan is doing double duty these days."
He lifted a large duffel bag (How did I not notice that?) and placed it on the table. Mia gaped at the bag and shook her head faintly.
"Your family spoils me too much," she tried to reply without stuttering over her words. She tried to hide her shock when she opened the bag and saw all the containers filled with food. She failed. Because Emmett started snickering at her.
Her mouth was wide open as Emmett helped take the containers out of the bag.
"This is way too much," she could barely speak up.
"Mom thought it would be nice. Since you know, you'll be home alone most of the time. And Jasper found it therapeutic helping her make food. It kinda slowly spiraled out of hand as you can see."
Mia struggled to accept it which made Emmett sigh softly.
"Just accept it, kid. Everyone really likes you and this won't be the last time you'll be spoiled like this you know."
Mia froze, staring at Emmett is horror. She opened her mouth to argue only to be cut off.
"Nope. Not listening to you! The faster you give in, the easier it'll be for you!"
"That's never going to happen," Mia argued. "I'm not letting anyone buy my anything. The next time you appear at my place with something, it's going right back!"
"You want me to take back the food," his eyes went wide and he stared at Mia like she was an alien. He placed his cold hand on her forehead which she smacked off.
"No! I said next time. Esme's food is great! I practically died and went to heaven the last time I came over. And I don't want to push it away. Plus food is food. It would be a sin to waste it."
Emmett still stared at her and before he could attempt to check her forehead for fever again, she opened up a box.
"Are those chocolate chip cookies," Mia gasped out in excitement.
Emmett looked like he was struggling to keep on the same path they were on. He rolled his eyes, his war won by Mia's good mood.
"Jasper was in a baking mood since he came home," Emmett leaned forward. "Apparently he learned that they were great comfort food."
"Learnt? Do y'all not eat real food?"
Mia had said it jokingly, peering at Emmett through her hair. Emmett's eyes widened fractionally before he masked it. Had Mia not been so focused on his face, she wouldn't have noticed it.
Great, another secret…
"Oh, Mom doesn't buy a lot of sugary things. The diet we all follow says no sugar whatsoever. But we find something sweet every once in a while."
Or not.
Mia nodded through her mouthful of cookies.
"You should try these, I won't tell. They're so good, I wanna drop everything and marry Jasper this very moment if he promises to make these every week," she ignored Emmett choking on the air and plowed onwards. "Maybe I should have that written in my vows; the cookies for wild, wild sex."
Emmett's expressions reminded her of a goldfish. His eyes bulged out of his face and his hands twitched every minute or so.
"Damn, I think I broke the teddy bear."
Mia carefully pulled out the food containers and placed them in the refrigerators.
"So why'd you come over? I thought you and Rosalie were going out on a date today," Mia called out, walking into the living room. She shifted into the make-believe bed on the couch Charlie had made in the morning when they had found their issue with the heating system.
"Chief Swan had mentioned how the heating system stopped working when he saw Mom at the grocery store today. And so Rosalie thought she could drop by to fix it when she heard. Apparently, she doesn't want you to get sick the day before you meet our parents as a proper person. You know, being the 'girl who Jasper and Alice bring home'."
"Did you leave Rosalie in the car," Mia smacked Emmett lightly, ignoring the other part of his dialogue.
Must not blush, must not blush.
"Oh young duckling, Rose has been working on your system since I scared you."
Mia fell silent, going deadly serious.
"Can you repeat that?"
"Rose has been working on your heating system since I scared you?"
Mia got up from her comfortable position and went towards the storeroom which was also the place of the main controller of the system. The door was open, light spilling out from the room.
Mia spied Rosalie tinkering at one of the wires and she leaned across the door.
"Hey Mia," the blonde said, not looking up from her work. Rose shifted something on the wall and pulled out a screwdriver.
"Hey there Rosalie," Mia replied with her arms crossed. "Emmett didn't tell me you were here til right now. Do you want anything to drink? I can make some coffee or tea if you want?"
Mia's hint didn't go over Rosalie's head who just smiled in amusement back. Rosalie was wearing clothes that seemed far better for summer than the cold winter of Forks.
"No thanks, I'm fine."
A comfortable silence fell over the two. Mia watched in wonder as Rosalie finished working on the unit on the wall and packed up. She grabbed the little broken pieces of metal and wires, throwing them in the trash can.
"It's a wonder the heating system hasn't broken down earlier," Rosalie glared. "The wires were old, overheated and could've started a fire if I hadn't fixed them right now."
Mia's eyebrows rose in surprise, though, before she could say anything, Rosalie flicked on the switch.
"I-."
"Rose!"
Mia swerved around and hissed at Emmett.
"Dude! I'm going to end you! I thought I asked for no more jump scares!"
Emmett shrugged, "I didn't promise anything. If anything, that'll help you stay more alert."
He turned to Rosalie who was watching the duo with a mask of indifference.
"Alice called. We have to go now," he emphasized on the now.
Mia watched them awkwardly, feeling like an intruder. Rosalie's dark brown eyes flickered to Mia and she nodded.
"We'll see you tomorrow alright," She spoke to the younger female in the room.
"Alright," a smile graced Mia's face. "Thank you for coming over and helping with the system."
Rosalie sent Mia a warm (a warm smile compared to all of Rosalie's normal cold ones) smile. Mia walked Emmett and Rosalie to the door.
"Thank you for the food and the help," she called out as they got in a massive red jeep.
Emmett waved at her from the car as they pulled out.
Mia watched the car disappear around the bend, her hand tight around the doorknob. She let out a sigh and headed back inside.
It's getting hard not asking questions. It's literally killing me to push down my curiosity.
(~'3')~
Mia's leg bounced up and down. She couldn't believe she was doing this.
I can't believe I'm doing this!
Jasper's hand tightened around hers.
"Hey, you need to relax. You've already met our parents and they've loved you," he placed a thumb under her chin and pushed it up so she could see him. His amber eyes seemed to be light and twinkling. "It's just a formality."
Mia stared at him carefully, taking in his wildly tossed blonde hair.
"How'd you leave the house without Alice seeing you?"
Jasper scoffed jokingly, "How are you so sure she hadn't seen me?"
Mia sent Jasper a patronizing look.
"You know she'd never let you out of the house like that."
"You know, maybe she likes the color in your cheeks when you blush because of your naughty thoughts. We all know how much you love my hair and Alice's hands!"
Mia squeaked in embarrassment and nearly fell on her back when she stumbled behind.
"You guys know that? Since when?"
Jasper chuckled and pulled Mia back up.
"Since that time behind the school lockers."
Mia let out a groan and buried her face in her hands.
"Mamma mia, you guys are going to be the reason why my heart decides to jump out of my chest one day."
Jasper pulled her into a flushed hug, "Don't worry about it. It's flattering that we have that kind of effect on you."
"I'm gonna go inside. Do you wanna come," Mia desperately tried to change the topic. "Cuz you know, it's not nice to keep people on the wait."
Jasper tried to neutralize his face but Mia noticed the laugh lines on his face become more prominent.
"Oh hush you," she said tiredly. "I want your parents to be okay with this you know. And you keep laughing at my worries."
Jasper sobered up and listened to her.
"Dad just wants to be able to give you the 'dad' speech. He loves having you in the family already so please don't be too worried."
Mia swerved her head sharply at him with wide eyes.
"How scared of this speech should I be?"
"I think he's planning to bring out some old guns out for this."
Mia leaned forward and her head fell on Jasper's chest with a loud thud.
"Great. Just great."
Mia knew she couldn't do something big like they did for her but she does try.
Dr. Cullen let it slip that Alice and Jasper's birthday has long passed during September (Jasper's) and August (Alice's). So Mia pulled in every type of favor she has every had and bribed people with free food before jumping towards a payphone.
Her old-time friend, Hazel, had once mentioned her moving to D'Iberville (which was the city in Harrison County, Mississippi, immediately north of Biloxi). It would've been better to just email Hazel, but Mia knew how bad Hazel was at checking her mails. The only way of their friendship surviving was the extremely elongated, detailed texts of their lives sent. They would be about twelve thousand words of information that counted everything that happened within a three months span.
So rather than trying her luck, Mia used up a large number of coins she had saved for the bus to call her friend.
Mia was well aware that the Cullens didn't age normally. After all, it was Alice who told her; she had mentioned it at one of their shopping trips (although Mia hadn't been so sure that Alice truly remembered it because Alice was looking dead ahead with a blank look on her face). Mia also knew that Alice hadn't had the best re-collation of her past. So using the information she did know about, Mia utilized her friendship tie to scour Biloxi, Mississippi.
Hazel thought that Mia was trying to find a friend's great aunt and was ecstatic about helping out. It felt weird to the sixteen year old for lying but the thought of the actual truth canceled it out.
Hazel did everything she could to try to find anything, a diary or a journal or even just a hint of what Alice's life could be before. (Mia knew she was over in her head for trying to find something Jasper and Alice hadn't. But it didn't hurt to try from a different angle.)
While her old friend searched for something of the 'original' Alice, Mia spent days calling up all over Seattle (and then Vancouver) for clothing shops. It was all for some specific tailored clothes made of the softest materials she could find. It was more expensive than anything she spent on alone, but she found the idea better than all the others she had for Jasper. The shirt she had made was a Prince Caspian styled shirt with it's flowy arms and crossed strings at the upper chest area. The shirt was embroidered with actual gold so it could mean much more than a simple, regular shirt
The time spent over on preparing the gifts was far too much for Mia to give the gifts. There simply wasn't enough time to rest between the days and Christmas. Her wallet cried with it's bareness and so to keep from overspending again, Mia fused up the gifts with her Christmas gifts.
There was a faint buzzing in the air.
She's coming here.
The silence was deafening. Every tick of the clock boomed across the house. A low murmur of concern started up from the participants in the room.
Her face was stiff and she robotically moved past her father. Mia wanted to crumple onto the floor, scream, and wail until her throat was sore or even burst into tears. But she didn't. She just got up and left the room.
Silence.
It followed her.
Silence. It was unnatural, void, refusing to be filled to prolong her suffering.
"So I heard that your other daughter is coming to Forks as well," Dr. Cullen questioned Charlie.
What? What's going on?
Charlie peaked at Mia as if in guilt.
No, no, no! Please!
"What do you mean," she asked with a sinking feeling.
Charlie looked like he was having a problem speaking up so Mia repeated the question as fear bubbled in her stomach.
She noticed the Cullen's exchange a look.
Please don't say it!
"Yes, my eldest daughter Isabella is coming to live in Forks. She'll be starting school after the winter break as well."
Silence.
It clung to her being, tormenting her.
Betrayal.
Mia carefully exited the house, opting to take a deep breath of air. The exhale leaves a puff of white above her. Staring up at the sky, she recalled what she had once read in a healing book.
There's a purpose behind emotional pain, a biological purpose. It's supposed to teach and educate people from unhealthy patterns and relationships; protect your heart from betrayals.
I've been pushing back against the pain for so long. Staying strong yet it always returns in the worst times. It wrecks my mind and soul. How do I understand it if it hurts too much?
Mia heard the door open behind her. The pavement grovels under their steps as they join her. Mia let out a sigh before shifting her body to look at the person.
Esme gave Mia a carefully guarded smile. Letting out a flinch, Mia stared at the sight of the motherly woman standing outside in the cold with her.
She said nothing. Though it did seem like Esme wanted to speak up, she pursed her lips and waited for Mia to finish taking a breather.
Esme's cold hand held Mia's. Mia's anger slowly dimmed out until she was left with nothing but disappointment.
He could've told me before I had to find out from someone else. It sucks having to unload everything on people who aren't my close family…
Esme leaned down and placed a loving kiss on Mia's crown.
"If you ever need someone to talk to. I'll be here, I'll remain here. And if you don't want to talk, I'll stay with you until you feel like you again."
Mia stayed in her place for a minute longer before she nodded back.
"I promise if something is too much, I'll call you."
Esme squeezed Mia gently before pulling back from the hug.
"Let's go make some hot chocolate," Esme pulled Mia into the house.
Thank you…mom.
New chapter added.
Word Count: 3788
This is a mixture of the original Chapter 9's middle where she finds out Isabella is visiting. I added some newer parts like her meeting the Cullen's as Jasper and Alice's person. But I didn't go in-depth cuz I felt like my writing would have them OOC. Also, this is more of a filler than anything but you realize that Emmett is getting comfortable around her while hinting strongly at his vampirism. He knows she'll find out soon so he doesn't try too hard to hide it.
Esme was going to say a speech but it felt too sudden. Like I want Mia to go to her and spill the tea so she can talk to her.
MOMMA ESME TO THE RESCUE (YES MIA CALLED HER MOM CUZ ESME IS MORE OF A MOM THAN RENEE)
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