A/N: You guys, there seems to be a glitch on the app; quotation marks aren´t shown there anymore. So in dialogue, you can´t see them. Only the app has this glitch; on my laptop and in the Word document I use, the quotation marks show up where they´re supposed to.

I´ve emailed the support-thingy, and hopefully, it will get fixed soon. I don´t know what I can do to fix it in the meantime, besides re-uploading everything I´ve ever written here (but I don´t know if that helps). Maybe it´s due to an update or something? I don´t know, sadly.

If anyone has the golden tip for me on how to fix it, please please please tell me, as I´m now losing potential new readers due to this. And as a writer, that´s a bummer, because your support means the world to me! And, I certainly hope this story brings you some kind of joy instead of irritation.

/rant over. Enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 17: A Boring Explanation

¨She's injured?¨ Renee shouted from a distance. I kept my eyes closed and tried to breathe my pain away. Edward´s hand definitely helped and I noticed I saw some coloured flashes right through the darkness that consumed me. This had to mean my parents found me and I didn´t know how I felt about that.

¨Let me through, let me through. Oh, my baby, what have they done to you?¨ she desperately cried out, and I heard the muffled, annoyed voices of Jasper and Emmett. She probably nudged them out of her way.

I could smell my mother´s flowery perfume as she gently touched my hand. ¨Where does it hurt?¨

Edward´s reaction surprised me. He held me closer to his body and didn't even address Renee at all.

¨Edward,¨ Carlisle ordered him and I felt his body getting less tense around me because of his father´s words. He slowly breathed out, and lay me in my mother's arms.

¨She only hit her shoulder with a baseball bat, but she's having another headache right now. They usually get better after a few minutes,¨ Carlisle calmly told my mother in the meantime. It didn't help at all, as I practically felt her anger radiating off of her and her breathing sounded more like shrieks than anything else.

I didn't know how long I lay in her arms, but everyone was quiet. I heard a soft running sound in the distance which came closer to us. Once that person stood still, he kneeled down next to Renee.

¨Oh, Bells,¨ Charlie breathed out and touched my forehead, the way Edward did just mere minutes ago.

I wished I could cry, scream or yell at them at this moment. But much to my own displeasure, I simply enjoyed being held by them.

A furious and distressed Renee, a worried-sick Charlie and their runaway daughter. How I wished I was just a normal, teenage rebel, running off to god knows where with her hot, slightly older boyfriend and finally getting caught by her strict parents and being grounded for the rest of her miserable, teenage life. I let myself enjoy this one moment of blissful peace, before I opened my eyes.

Boy, was I glad Edward couldn't hear my thoughts.

The Cullens stood a few feet away from us and gave us some privacy. Rosalie and Emmett were suddenly very focused on the surrounding trees. Jasper and Alice were walking away from us, hand in hand. Carlisle stood close by, ready to answer the questions that my parents would have. Esme stood next to him, her hand firmly on his shoulder, with an apologetic look on her face while she held Edward´s arm in her other hand. Edward stood still and watched us, seeing how I would react to this and if it would be too much for me.

But, if I could handle being a freaking semi-hybrid, then I could also handle my own fucking parents. I quickly winked at him and turned away.

Renee´s face lit up and she practically cuddled me to death. ¨Bella, oh Bella. We were so worried, my sweet baby.¨

Charlie was speechless but I saw tons of emotions flash in his face before he settled on pure relief.

¨Renee, Charlie,¨ I addressed them and even I noticed how cold my voice actually sounded.

My mother's face fell and she opened and closed her mouth without speaking.

I used this moment to escape their arms around me and I got up. I glanced in the direction of the Cullens and my eyes landed on Edward. He winked back at me.

I took a deep breath before I told both of them the one sentence that was constantly on my mind. ¨I did not appreciate that you both lied to me.¨

Renee looked at the ground and with trembling hands, grabbed Charlie´s hand in hers. They were both silent and for some reason, that infuriated me even more. I angrily paced around the place, my hands balled into fists and I was ready to fight instead of fleeing for once.

¨You both don't know how I feel right now,¨ I started with angry tears in my eyes that I tried to blink away. ¨I've slept here, you know? I've slept here alone in the woods and did you know what I learned? Well?

That I run fast, that I can break a tree with only my bare hands and that I even drink blood. Can you imagine, blood? Do you both have any idea how hard it was for me to learn all of that, all by myself?

But that wasn't even the hardest part. No, the worst part out of any of this is that you both lied to me.¨

My voice broke. ¨I can deal with being a semi-hybrid. I can't deal with all of this lying.¨

I immediately wanted to run away, but I didn't allow my feet to walk away this time.

My dad, the most rational of us, was the first to look up. He had the decency to look ashamed, and for some reason, that made me glad. ¨We're sorry. No, we´re more than sorry. It was stupid of us and probably the worst thing we could do to you.¨

I signed. ¨Then why did you did it?¨

¨We hoped we could give you a normal childhood this way. We didn't have a clue how you would grow and it was… easier to pretend. If we pretended we were all human, maybe we would feel human as well,¨ Renee responded with glossy eyes.

I felt a little bit of hope, but I wouldn't allow that feeling to take over. It was still selfish. It was still wrong. And I still didn't know shit.

I frowned. ¨You didn't know how I would grow,¨ I copied. ¨It that why you sent me to so many doctors when I was little?¨

¨Hybrids are very rare, Bella,¨ Charlie explained to me. I turned around to look at Carlisle.

He nodded. ¨A hybrid is born when a vampire and a human conceive a baby, and that rarely ever happens as we can't get that close to humans.¨

I nodded and looked back at Charlie. ¨So, two hybrids together are even more extraordinary. Imagine they conceive a baby. A beautiful, smart, funny and witty baby. I don´t think that has ever happened. It´s a true miracle¨ he smiled at me.

I turned around again.

¨We´ve also never encountered one,¨ Carlisle added.

I faced my parents again and made a noise to allow them to continue.

¨So, yes. That's the reason why we went to so many doctors. We were so scared, sweety. So scared that there might have been something wrong with you, something we couldn't help you with.¨ My mother smiled through her tears at me. ¨We could've never hoped you would be so similar to us.¨

¨Similar how?¨

¨You´ve always been strong, even as a baby, but we tried to teach you that you can't use your full strength around others, so we could blend in as much as possible.

Also, you´ve seen the pictures, Bells. We age very slowly,¨ Charlie explained to me. He laughed. ¨Very, very slowly.

I threw my hands in the air in frustration. ¨Then how old am I?¨

They quickly looked at each other, suddenly very cautious to tell me more.

¨Well?¨ I angrily continued.

¨Seventeen,¨ Renee blurted out.

I rolled my eyes. ¨How long have I been seventeen?¨

She quickly glanced back at my father. ¨A while?¨ She asked and I swear, I would have turned around, walked away and never looked back if it weren't for Charlie.

He put his hand on Renee's shoulder and answered. ¨You´ve been seventeen for twenty years now. From now on, your ageing process will actually be slower and slower each year. During your childhood, you´ve grown the quickest but we expect that the years in your adulthood will be longer and longer.¨

I blinked a few times while I tried to take it all in. And believe me, it was a lot. I looked at both of them. ¨How old are you?¨

Charlie nodded at Renee. ¨Around the same as Carlisle, so 381-ish, give or take,¨ she answered.

I paled. What the absolute fuck! I turned around again, and looked at Carlisle. Almost 400 years old. He was almost 4 hundred years old.

Did I have to count that in mystical-creature-years? Just as some people count in dog years? How many vampire years was one human year?

If I was 40 in mystical-creature-years, he was almost 4 centuries old.

And what was worse, was that my parents were around the same age. I looked back at them and back at Carlisle. I had no idea how that was even possible.

I felt a cold arm around my waist and I looked up to see Edward. I could only stare at him, relieved he held me because my legs could give in at any second.

¨How old are you?¨ I stuttered.

¨120,¨ he answered, never breaking our eye-contact.

But I broke free from his grip. ¨How old is everyone here?¨ I desperately screamed at the Cullens.

Alice came running back, her arms wide open, ready to hug my hysterics away but I quickly dodged her with my new-found powers.

I felt a wave of calmness crash over me and I looked at Jasper. I gave him the middle finger. Emmett laughed at that and Rosalie nudged him and ordered him to be quiet.

The only one that might have calmed me down slightly was Esme. She smiled at me with pure sympathy in her eyes and I noticed my breathing became calmer.

I needed to get my priorities straight. Out of all the weird stuff that got thrown my way, this was the thing that broke me down the most. Their age. And that was absurd, as I had more to worry about.

¨If I´m so old, then why can't I remember anything?¨ I asked them, after I´ve had a few minutes to compose myself.

¨Bells,¨ Charlie started and I knew the answer before he spoke. ¨We don´t know. Some aspects of your life are a mystery to us.¨

I turned to Carlisle. Even if I knew the answer already, I needed to know it with absolute certainty.

I could see the answer written in his eyes. Damn it.

¨Please come home, Bella,¨ Renee whispered and I turned around again. Something in her voice made my heart ache. I didn't want that, but I couldn't help it.

Home.

Part of me wanted to go with them, and go home. If we could be alone, maybe we could talk things through and maybe we could form some sort of bond, a different relationship so to say.

Part of me wanted to go with the Cullens. I enjoyed this day so much despite everything and that selfish part of me didn't want to separate from them just yet.

¨We cannot thank you enough for taking care of her when we couldn´t,¨ Charlie added as he took a step into Carlisle´s direction, as a father to father moment.

That little act of kindness did it for me, so I slowly walked into my mother´s open arms.