Esme pulled into the supermarket parking lot. They got out the car and grabbed a shopping trolley from the entrance to the supermarket and walked inside. They made their way slowly around the supermarket, selecting the items that they required.
"How about Nutella on your sandwiches?" asked Esme, secretly hoping that Amelia would decline the offer. They were discussing what to put on her sandwiches for the coming week.
"Awesome!" she exclaimed, walking over and grabbing a jar off the shelf in glee, "I haven't had this stuff in ages!"
Esme groaned internally. Why did she suggest that? They continued their way around the shop.
"Hello Esme," greeted a tall, dark haired woman as she walked past with a basket.
"Hello Caroline," responded Esme, "how are you doing?"
"Well thank you, and you?"
"I am also great thanks." Just then Amelia walked back to the trolley, holding some apples.
"I can't remember if we needed more apples, Mom," she said, staring at the label. She looked up and saw someone unfamiliar talking to her mother, "sorry to interrupt. Hi."
"Not a problem, my dear. You must be Amelia, I've heard so much about you. Oh, silly me, I'm Caroline Westsmythe, Daniella's mom," she added, seeing Amelia's confused expression.
"Oh. Hi there, Mrs Westsmythe. Yes, I'm Amelia Cullen. Pleased to meet you," she said politely, extending her hand to shake Mrs Westsmythe's hand, "Dani's a really good friend of mine. She's been so kind to me this week, I don't think I would have survived without her, Amy and Narcisse."
"Those three girls are inseparable. All Daniella's spoken about this whole week is you, so I'm pleased to finally be able to put a face to the name. I expect I'll be seeing a lot of you, you're always welcome to visit. Some days I think Amy and Narcisse might as well move in," she said with a chuckle, "I believe they are going to the cinema tomorrow, are you going as well?"
"I'm not sure yet, my mom doesn't mind but I'm worried that I get sick again or something."
"Well, I was thinking of driving actually. This weather is strange and it's a bit of a long drive for Daniella, so I'd prefer to drive the girls myself. Esme, perhaps you'd like to join me?"
"I was going to volunteer to drive the girls actually. I'm concerned about being so far away from Amelia in case of an emergency happening, so I'll definitely be there. I think Alice and Rose will also be up for a trip, but they'll surely do their own thing. Shall we all meet up at the cinema at 9am?"
"That sounds great. If you want to drop Amelia off beforehand so that the girls can travel together, that's also alright."
"We'll confirm in the morning, it will depend on what kind of night little madam over here has, and how she is feeling." Esme playfully tapped Amelia on the nose. Mrs Westsmythe smiled at the pair. She didn't know the Cullens very well. Like Esme, she left her husband to do his own thing and therefore didn't know everyone's business, like some of their fellow doctors' wives did.
"Sounds perfect. Hope to see you tomorrow, Amelia."
"Me too, Mrs Westsmythe. Hey, what sort of chocolate does Daniella like? I'd like to get her, Amy and Narcisse something for Valentine's Day. But please don't tell them."
"Daniella did her shopping for Valentine's Day on Sunday, actually. She got you a little something already, but I won't tell her you're getting her something, don't worry. She likes dark chocolate in particular, but anything will do. I know for a fact that Amy doesn't like dark chocolate, but Narcisse will eat anything as well."
"Thanks Mrs Westsmythe."
They went their separate ways. At the checkout counter, Amelia found the Valentine's Day display and selected a few things for her friends.
"Mom, what would you like?"
"You don't have to get me anything."
"Ok, I'll ask Alice."
"You do that angel."
"I can't see any problems arising tomorrow," stated Alice, coming back to the present and blinking, refocusing on her surroundings.
"Alright. I'm happy to let Amelia go if she wants to," said Carlisle, "Jasper, Edward, how is she feeling?"
"She's fast asleep, Carlisle," stated Edward flatly. Jasper snickered.
"Oh. Yes, well, that does, uh, complicate things," Carlisle cleared his throat awkwardly. The rest of his family looked at him in amusement.
"I think she is hesitant to go," said Esme, chewing her bottom lip. She and Edward exchanged glances. Edward nodded in agreement.
"Why?" asked Emmett.
"People are going to stare at her," said Rosalie.
"So?"
"So, she is a self-conscious 15 year old girl. She hides a behind a mask of nonchalance, but Esme and I both saw how it affects her. Emmett, you should have seen how people stared at her at the airport. She acts like it doesn't bother her, because she doesn't want to upset any of us, but I suspect it bothers her far more than she is willing to admit to us," said Carlisle.
"Carlisle's right. You saw how the kids in the cafeteria stared at her," broke in Alice.
"But those are kids," said Emmett, bewildered.
"Adults are worse. We told off a couple sitting opposite us at the airport who were openly staring at her. They were in their forties. Amelia eventually hid in the bathroom so that she could get a reprieve from their behaviour," said Esme sadly, recalling that day exactly one week ago and how she had wanted nothing more than to run after her daughter and comfort her. Instead, a kind stranger who had witnessed the incident had gone after Amelia. They had heard her chatting to Amelia, telling her about her sister, which probably gave Amelia more strength than anything Esme and Carlisle could ever have said.
Emmett looked sad. He may be the biggest, scariest and naughtiest of the Cullen children, the resident prankster and general hooligan when he felt like it, but deep down, Emmett was a very kind and gentle soul, who cared for his family and would do anything to protect them. Amelia, the sickly and fragile human baby sister was no exception to his rule, outranking everyone else, even Renesmee, in his hierarchy of protection.
"Hey guys," came a voice from the stairs. Amelia walked into the room, yawning widely as she did so.
"Hey squirt," called Emmett, racing to his littlest of sisters and picking her up, giving her a great big hug.
"You feeling ok, big guy?" she asked him in amusement, touching his forehead, "Do you have a fever or something?"
"No, just happy to see you again," he responded, planting a giant, sloppy kiss on her cheek.
"Ewwwww, Emmett! Gross!" she exclaimed, kicking to be let down. She wiped her cheek dramatically, glared at him and stomped into the kitchen, digging around for some food in the refrigerator.
"Amelia, can we have a word with you when you're done?" called Carlisle.
"Um, okay?" That was phrased as a question.
"You're not in trouble, Mia," called Edward, smirking at his sister's thoughts. Amelia came out of the kitchen with a glass of water and a fruit salad she'd made the day before but hadn't finished eating. She glanced around for an empty spot. Esme patted the open spot next to her, and Amelia walked towards her and sat down, sandwiched between Esme and Jasper.
"Do you want to go to the cinema with your friends?" asked Carlisle. Amelia stilled, eyes widening.
"Yes and no," she whispered, head downcast. She picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of mango, before chewing it thoughtfully.
"Ok, explain please," said Carlisle, exasperated. Amelia caught his tone of voice and glanced up. No one missed the slight acceleration of her heart rate in fear. Instead of shrinking back like they expected her to, she pulled herself up and raised eyebrow at him, an expression of defiance. Edward glared at Carlisle.
"I want to spend time with my friends, but I still have a bit of homework to catch up on, as well as all of today's work. I'm not entirely sure that I'm going to finish it all tonight. Then there's an assignment we got given today for Biology class," she started.
"You'll have your homework done in no time at all," promised Alice, "besides, that assignment is only due in a month's time."
"I can't risk not having it done a.s.a.p., I mean anything could happen between now and the deadline and then I'm stuck in hospital, and then I can't submit it and then I'll get bad marks."
"Mia, there's more than just homework holding you back, isn't there?" asked Bella. Amelia nodded and looked at Edward. Edward's face contorted.
"People are going to stare at her, some are going to make unkind comments. She's not up for that right now. We can tell her to ignore them all we want, but blocking it out is easier said than done."
"You saw how it was at the airport. It's going to be no different this time. On an aeroplane, I can hide in the corner and not too many people can see me. Out in the open, I have nowhere to hide. People stare. It's awkward, it sucks and it makes me feel like a freak of nature. I hate every minute of it. You know all of this, Dad, you where there last week," Amelia stated quietly, meeting Carlisle's gaze head on. Esme sighed sadly. Amelia glanced behind to look at her mother, and put her arm around her comfortingly.
"I know Amelia, I just needed to hear you admit it."
"And make everyone else, Mom in particular, sad? That is not fair of you, Dad," she countered, anger flaring up. Carlisle backed down immediately, spying the hurt look on Esme's face and the angry one on Amelia's.
Although it flared up very rarely, Amelia had a temper and a week's worth of pent up frustration was starting to bubble up to the surface. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she took a deep breath, stood up and excused herself. They heard the front door being open and then shut, following by a scream of frustration. It didn't last long, the front door opened up again and they heard Amelia walk up the stairs and shut her bedroom door, sinking down against it. Her soft cries were heard, but she quickly composed herself and went to complete her homework.
"Don't even think about it," said Edward, glaring at Carlisle, who had stood up to go and speak to Amelia, "She doesn't want to see you right now. Give her some space. She's upset with you because you made her confess something she wanted to spare Esme knowing. You owe them both an apology."
The kids stood up and walked into the TV room, where they put on a DVD. Carlisle looked at Esme, who sat frozen on the couch.
"I'm sorry, Esme," he said, coming to sit next to her.
"I wish I had known sooner," she whispered, giving him a hug, "I should have realised just how low her self-confidence was and how much she had to hide from us. I knew she was, but I didn't realise that it was that bad."
Carlisle's only response was to kiss Esme with a passion. It turned heated quickly and they raced upstairs.
"Amelia's next door," said Esme, breaking off the kiss. Carlisle rested his head against hers, fingers stilling from where they were unbuttoning Esme's blouse. They heard Alice race upstairs into Amelia's room.
"Why don't you practice violin for a bit in the music room?" they heard her ask Amelia.
"Uhm, I still have this biology worksheet to finish, so I was going to practice it afterwards. Can't I do it then?"
"No. You need to practice the violin now."
"But why?"
"Mom and Dad need some, uh, alone time."
"Huh? Oh, ew. Way too much information, Ali. Gross!" they heard her exclaim.
"You'll change your mind about that one day, missy. Let's get cracking."
"Alice! You're corrupting my mind. Ugh!" they heard Amelia's voice fade as the pair walked down the stairs to the middle floor and into the music room. They heard Amelia tune her violin, and then start to play first violin from Dvorak's New World Symphony from the beginning.
"You have approximately 45 minutes to sort yourselves out," said Alice as she walked back down to where the rest of her siblings sat. The TV volume turned up even louder. Carlisle glanced at Esme, and they started up from where they left off.