Okay, Chapter 13 is here. On another note, I would like to thank iluzme for being my first official follower, I appreciate it and you made my day, but I would also like to thank everyone who has checked out my story since then, it means a lot to me.
I don't know how long I sat there, but I think it was for about an hour. I had never thought I would cry like this now that I was living with the Cullen's, but then again, I had never thought any of this would have happened, but it had. I guess that part of me is still trying to deal with everything that was happening and that had happened, not to mention the fact that I had a vampire family now. With that in mind, I kinda felt embarrassed because my family and the Denali's would have heard me crying and I hated that.
It was then that I heard a knock on my door, so expecting it to be Esme or Renesmee checking up on me I looked up, only to see the last person in the world I expected to see watching me carefully with their arm's folded across their chest.
"Emmett, if you've come to yell at me about messing with your stuff, then I honestly don't want to hear it." I said, whipping the tears from my eyes.
I watched as Emmett slowly made he's way over to me and sat down on my bed, looking very uncomfortable. He probably didn't know how to deal with me crying.
"I'm not here to yell at you." Emmett said.
"Huh, that would be a first. All you seem to do is yell at me." I said, glaring at him, though I wasn't that mad.
He looked at me and gave me a small smile. "I know and I'm sorry for that." Emmett said and I looked at him, shocked. He had never apologized to me, ever.
"Did Rose make you do this?" I asked, knowing that they could all hear us from downstairs. Emmett chuckled and carefully placed a hand on my knee.
"Sort of." Emmett said, then he looked seriously at me. "Stephanie, the truth is you are a sister to me and I do care about you, I'm just not used to having a sister like you." He explained.
"What, a sister who can beat you at video games?" I asked sarcastically.
"No, a sister who is stronger than all of us put together." Emmett said seriously, shocking me to the core.
"Emmett, you're ten times stronger than me." I said, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about.
"Physically, yes, but that's not what I meant. Stephanie, we all went through some terrible things to become vampires, Rose especially, and it was hard for us and took us a while to accept – especially since we didn't die, but instead became vampires. But, the truth is, and I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say this, is that you are the strongest person in our family." He said, causing me to freeze in shock. Was that really what Emmett and the other's thought of me?
"I'm not that strong, and like you pointed out – most of you were near dead when you became what you are, or you went through horrible things before you did." I said, looking down at my hands.
"Yes, you are." He said, causing me to look at him. "You lost your entire family, had your life taken away from you, were beaten for six months, lost your boyfriend, got shot and yet here you are, still in one piece and as annoying as ever." He said, which caused me to laugh about the last part.
"He's right Steph, at least about most of it." Alice said, standing in my doorway, Jasper by her side. I still didn't believe Emmett had actually said any of that to me, well except for the last part of course.
Suddenly Jasper started laughing lightly and we all glared at him.
"What's so funny?" I asked him, confused.
"Just your reaction to what Emmett said." Jasper laughed.
"Well he's never talked this way to me before." I said, then I looked at Emmett. "Thank you by the way." I said, smiling at him.
"My pleaser. Now, will you come play football with me?" He asked, grinning like the child he was sometimes. With that in mind, I sighed and smiled at him brightly.
"Only if you use human speed and strength?" I said, smirking. I was fine with playing football, but I so didn't want to end up dead or hurt.
"Promise." Emmett grinned.
"I'll meet you outside." I said.
I dashed into my wardrobe, taking of my clothes and pulling on a pair of black track pants and a black top, along with some runners. I dashed out of my room with a new sense of happiness and ran down the stairs, waving to the Denali's and the rest of my family as I ran out to find Emmett, Renesmee, Jacob and Jasper waiting for me. Emmett was throwing the footy up in the air.
"Shouldn't there be even teams?" I pointed out as I walked over to stand with Renesmee and Jacob, who I assumed I was on a team with.
"Nope, because you're going to need all the help you can get." Emmett said, cracking his knuckles and smirking at me.
"I think it's the other way around, but whatever." I smirked, causing Jacob and Renesmee to start laughing. I knew that was kinda ridiculous since they were vampires, but I liked being confident.
I watched as Alice came out smiling and she clapped her hands to get our attention.
"Okay, this is what's going to happen. The lines at each end of driveway are where you have to get the ball to. Boys, you are to use human strength and speed and that's it, no cheating." Alice said, then she threw me the ball she was now somehow holding. "Let the game begin" She yelled.
I charged forward and caught the ball in my hands, then I turned to see the boys running toward me. I dodged around Jasper and knowing that Emmett would grab me if I went around him, I dropped and slid between his legs, getting pretty dirty. As I looked around I saw Renesmee, so I threw the football to her and watched as she caught it effortlessly. I pushed myself up onto my feet and watched as she passed the line, causing Jacob and I to cheer, while Emmett cursed and Jasper laughed.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Jasper asked, coming up beside me.
"I always played football with Noah and my parents, and sometimes my uncle. After a while I learnt how to slide under people's legs." I smiled.
"Hey, did you see that?" Renesmee said, smiling at me as she came over to me.
"Yep. Us one; them zero." I said, smiling at Emmett, who wasn't looking nearly as cheerful as he had before. Well, this game would be different if they could play full strength and speed, but that wouldn't be fair.
"Yeah, well it's going to be harder now that they have the ball. If you try to tackle them you'll most likely break something." She said. I smiled at her and winked at her. I knew exactly how I was going to get the ball, because my brother had taught me.
"Go!" Alice yelled.
I bolted towards Emmett, who of course had the ball, and with a smile on my face I faked to go left, then I quickly dodged right, knocking the ball out from under Emmett's arm.
"You little…" He said, trying to grab me, but luckily, I was able to dodge him, which was only because he was using human speed.
Both he and Jasper took off after me and I saw Renesmee and Jacob trying to catch up, which was funny because all of them were faster than me. Suddenly Emmett tackled me, but thankfully I was over the line, which meant we were definitely in head, though getting tackled by Emmett wasn't a good thing for me. I groaned because it hurt like hell when Emmett had hit me because of my stomach, and now he was still crushing me.
"Emmett, I…can't…breath." I choked out, gasping in pain and trying to get in a breath that wasn't staggered.
"Shit, sorry" He said, getting off of me. My chest was in absolute agony and I slowly took deep breaths, in an out, trying to get my breathing back to normal as I turned around onto my back, but it wasn't working.
"Carlisle" I heard Alice say.
I knew he would have heard, but the truth was I was pretty sure I didn't need help, because I was certain Emmett had only winded me, though that sounded pretty impossible.
"Stephanie, are you alright?" Carlisle asked, now leaning over me.
"I just got tackled by Emmett." I forced laughed. "How do you think I'm feeling?" Carlisle started checking my ribs, carefully pushing on my sides.
"Well you're lucky. He didn't break anything, he just winded you." Carlisle said, while he carefully helped me up off of the ground.
"I figured as much." I said, slowly breathing in and out.
"How aren't you hurt?" Renesmee asked, coming up beside me.
"Luck." I shrugged. I had to admit, I couldn't understand how I hadn't been hurt by Emmett either, I mean the guy reminded me of a bear and he was as hard as rock, just like every vampire was.
"You have a lot of luck." Renesmee joked and I laughed, because she was definitely right.
"Stephanie, try to be more careful." Carlisle said and I looked up at him. Okay, it wasn't like I actually liked being hurt, I mean no one does.
"Of course." I said, then I looked at Emmett. "And Emmett, do me a favor and never tackle me again." I smiled at him. I mean it wasn't his fault it happened. We were playing football and he forgot for a split second that he was ten times stronger than me and could kill me very easily.
"I can't make any promises little sis." Emmett laughed and he smirked at me, making me smile back. Having Emmett call me little sis made me realize how much the Cullen's had really become my family.
"Well then, I guess this means game on." I smiled and with that Jacob and Renesmee smiled.
- Line Breaker -
We ended up spending the next hour playing football and I felt more like myself then I had in months. Okay, so playing football with my new vampire family wasn't completely normal, but it felt right because these people loved and cared for me, just like a family should and like my birth family had.
So anyway, in the end we lost the game, but only by one. Still, it seemed to be a happy day for Emmett, who was smirking at me now.
"I have to say sis, not bad for a human." He said and I smiled at him.
"You still think I'm a rich brat?" I asked him and he smirked down at me.
"Yep, but there's nothing wrong with that." He said and he grabbed my arm, flinging me onto his back, making me cry out in surprise and burst into laughter as I clung to his back.
"You know you're a pretty cool big brother Emmett, even if you can drive me absolutely crazy sometimes." I smiled and I saw him smile from where I was on his back.
"Back at you sis." He said. He carried me on his back to the lounge room and I climbed off of his back, smiling; that is, until I saw Esme's expression.
"What is it?" I asked, kinda worried.
"We talked to Sheriff Mercer dear; your Uncle's trial is tomorrow at ten thirty." Esme said and now I realized why she hadn't wanted to tell me.
It was going to be hard for me to see him again, but more to the point; tomorrow was the day I had been hit by that car, eight years ago, but it also meant that that was the day...
"Stephanie, are you alright?" Esme asked, causing me to snap out of my thought's before I could think of something I tried never to think of, because it was way too painful.
"I'm fine, I'm just not looking forward to seeing him again." I said, trying to make it look like that was really what was bothering me, but it wasn't.
"We'll be there with you, he's not going to touch you." Carlisle said and I sighed.
"He doesn't have to touch me to hurt me." I said and I turned on my heel and left the room, heading for the stairs. As I went up I knew tomorrow was going to be hard for me, but at the moment I was tired as hell and it was only six.
I knew I should eat dinner, but I so wasn't in the mode, so instead I went into my room, grabbed my PJ's, then went to bed, falling straight to sleep with the worry of tomorrow in my mind.