A/N: Hello my lovelies! It's been quite a while since I last update this little story. And now I'm back with a new update; short and a little repetitive, but I have a plan. Thank you for the support that you've been giving me through this. Enjoy, or don't, that's up to you.
OOOOOOOOO
Sadie woke up in the early morning hours, covered in a cold sweat and tangled up in her sheets. Her eyes turned out to the darkened world beyond the glass windows of her room and she took a couple deep breaths to calm herself down a little. Her heart thudded quickly in her chest as she laid there on the bed.
She could smell smoke and the stench of something overly sweet being burned. People were screaming out all around her and she could see blood coating everything. Shapes of shadowy figures swarmed past her – all different in size and color. Sadie could feel the burn of open wounds on her flesh and taste the coppery blood that filled her mouth.
"Run! Run! RUN!"
No! Sadie thought, sitting up in her bed and fighting against the sheets that chained her to the bed. No, I'm not going to think about that! Not here. Not anywhere. Not ever.
Sadie moved over to the window when she managed to untangle herself from the sheets and leaned her head against the cool glass. She knew that there wasn't any point in trying to go back to sleep, especially since she'd have to get up again in a couple hours. The wolf sighed and wrapped an arm around herself.
The vampires of the house could be heard faintly doing the things that they normally did beyond her room. She could hear Rosalie hissing something at someone in a room below hers and felt a shiver go down her spine. Sadie had avoided that woman since coming back home from the impromptu ball game that had happened between Emmett and herself. The last thing that she needed was for Rosalie to accuse her of hurting the bear of a vampire simply by being a little rough with him.
Sadie didn't want to think about Emmett. Aside from Alice and Jasper, he'd been the nicest to her since she came to stay with the Cullens. Sure, Carlisle and Esme had opened their hearts and home to her, but she got friendship from the "younger" vampires. Except for Edward, who didn't seem to care for much that didn't deal with Bella, his soulmate and the human love of his vampire life.
The wolf strained to hear if Edward was there, but since he wasn't at his piano, she guessed that he was still with Bella, without her father knowing any wiser. It was a little creepy, but she wasn't about to try to talk to Edward about it.
"And I still have to keep an eye out for her in P.E. class," Sadie muttered to herself, shaking her head. "I don't see why they don't kick her out of the class to begin with. Coaches are weird."
Someone lightly knocked on Sadie's bedroom door, causing Sadie to turn her attention away from the window.
"Yeah?" she called out softly.
Alice slowly opened the bedroom door and moved into the room, closing the door behind her. In her hands was a steaming cup of hot chocolate with dozens of miniature marshmallows piled on top of it. The vampire offered a small smile as she made her away across the room.
"I knew you'd be awake," Alice said in a slightly cheery voice. "With all of that noise that you were making, there's no way that you'd stay asleep for long." She held out the hot chocolate. "Here. This might help."
Forgetting what happened before I got here would help more, Sadie thought, but she smiled and took the cup of hot chocolate from her vampire friend. "Thanks."
Sadie moved over to the bed and sat on it, holding the warm ceramic cup between her hands and focusing on the warmth that it offered her chilled body. She hardly registered Alice joining her on the bed until the vampire bumped her elbow against Sadie's knee.
"What's going on, Sadie?" Alice asked.
"I'm just thinking…remembering things," Sadie admitted. "Things that I don't want to remember and things that I don't want to talk about right now. Maybe later, but not now."
Alice tilted her head to the side and looked at Sadie for a long moment in silence. "I see that, Sadie. I won't push you until you're ready to tell anyone what's going on. I'll support you from the sidelines and always ask you how you're feeling, but I won't pressure you."
The wolf lowered one of her hands to clasp Alice's. "Thanks for understanding, Alice. You're a great friend."
"I know that I am a great friend. I just didn't think you'd call me one for a while, especially since we've only known each other for almost a week." Alice's smile pulled her lips tight and her amber colored eyes sparkled with life. "I'm happy that you're coming around to us."
Sadie ducked her head and took a sip from her hot chocolate. "I've been around vampires before and they were nice…but nowhere near as nice as you guys are." The wolf looked at Alice once more. "Will Rosalie ever like me enough to tolerate my presence here?"
"I don't know. She constantly changes her mind and she's known to hold grudges against people. And she still hasn't completely warmed up to Bella's presence…"
"But Bella's a human and will probably rub off on her in time. I'm a wolf though and she's made it very clear that she doesn't like wolves." Sadie scrunched her nose up a little in imitation of Rosalie's. "Sadie stinks of wet dog and filth. Why did you let such a filthy creature stay with us, Carlisle?"
A little laugh burst out of Alice's mouth and she quickly pressed a hand to cut off the rest of the laughter. Sadie smiled at her friend, popping one of the marshmallows into her mouth. Alice glanced towards the bedroom door before lowering her hand.
"You shouldn't do that," she said, though there was still a trace of laughter in her voice. "The walls aren't thick enough to keep the whole house from hearing what you just said."
"Sorry," Sadie whispered, still smiling slightly.
Not really.
"You're just asking to get in a fight with her if you talk like that," Alice commented. "I can see it coming without using my abilities…"
"And you know who'll win, don't you?"
The vampire shrugged her shoulders. "I may be able to see the victor, but I'm not at liberty to say who. It'll just blow both of your egos sky high. Besides, I don't like to pick sides when it comes to things like this."
"That's wise."
"I thought so too." Alice jumped onto her knees and bounced a little on the bed. "Finish that drink up and we can take an early morning jog. It should make you feel a little better before you have breakfast and we go to school."
Sadie looked at the vampire with one eyebrow raised in question. "Would that be a run in my wolf form or are we going to go out there as humanoids?"
"You can run however you want to," Alice told her with a wide smile. "It'd be more fun though if I could actually talk to you on the run. But it's your choice, Sadie."
"Okay. We're going to go the humanoid route." Sadie took another sip from her hot chocolate. "Just a friendly little run, right? No competing?"
"No competing," Alice swore, holding her hand up and bouncing to her feet. "I'll save that for someone else." The vampire danced over to the wardrobe and opened it, sifting through the clothes. "Now finish that hot chocolate and let's go."
OOOOOOOOO
Alice's idea of a little early morning jog was over thirty miles in a circle filled with a dense forest. Sadie was able to keep up with the vampire, but knew that it was only because Alice was going easy on her. It seemed that the vampire knew that Sadie wasn't completely back to her full strength, even though she'd been good at showing up the human counterparts that filled the school. Sadie knew that she'd be back to herself in a couple more days and knew that Alice could already see that using her abilities.
By the time that they made it back to the house in the forest, Sadie's skin was coated in a light sheen of sweat and her sports-bra was darkened in parts with sweat. The wolf was breathing heavier than normal as she slid to a stop in the driveway, but she wasn't completely exhausted as she breathed in the cool air of the forest. Alice skipped around her, smiling happily with absolutely no sign of exhaustion.
"How about we do fifty tomorrow, if you can't stay asleep until the last minute?" Alice asked, giving Sadie a wink.
"Maybe," Sadie said, brushing her hair back away from her damp forehead. "But fifty is the highest that I'm willing to go from now on, Alice. Do you understand?"
Alice nodded and wrapped her arm around Sadie's shoulders. "Whatever you say, Sadie. C'mon. Let's get you inside and changed into something less sweaty. Esme will have the breakfast of champions ready by the time you're done with your shower and change clothes."
The moment that Sadie and Alice entered the house, they were confronted by Emmett. Sadie's stomach tightened as she looked up at him. A small frown was pulling at the large vampire's lips as he looked at his family member and the wolf.
"You two went out running and didn't invite me?" he asked, his voice low with slight irritation. "I wanted to play with the wolf too, Alice."
"Sorry, Emmett," Alice said with no trace of sincerity. "It was just a girl thing. Sadie needs to get her full strength back before she can let herself run with you like you want."
"Maybe you could go running with us next time," Sadie suggested before she could stop herself.
Just like that, Emmett's frown morphed into a big smile. "You can count on that, Sadie."
Something warm spread through Sadie as she looked up at Emmett and she told her body to fight as hard as it could to keep her from blushing. She saw that there was a small change in the vampire's eyes as he stared at her.
Oh God! God, no!
"Ugh! What is that horrible stench?" Rosalie's voice preceded her into the front hall. Her nose scrunched up in pure disgust as she looked at Sadie in her sweaty glory. "As if you didn't already smell horrible before. You just had to go out and make yourself stink worse. Seriously, did you roll around in rotten trash, wolf girl?"
"No," Sadie muttered, tearing her gaze away from the giant vampire to look at the blonde one. "I went out for a run."
"And her name's Sadie," Alice added, keeping her arm around Sadie's shoulders. "You should start calling her that, Rosalie, because Carlisle is only going to handle you being rude to her like this for a little while longer. After that, you're going to have to answer to him about your super rudeness."
Rosalie stuck her nose up in the air and pushed past the small group in the front hall. Sadie watched the woman's hips sway as she clicked away on her impossibly high stiletto heels. She jumped in surprise when Emmett placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You wanna ride in my vehicle to school?" he asked with a smile. "It's open to the outside world and you can stand up in the back of it without anyone saying that it's illegal."
Sadie nodded. "Sure…but will Rosalie have a problem with that?"
Emmett shrugged his shoulders. "She's not riding with me today. She's mad at me for some reason."
"And he hates to be in a vehicle by himself," Alice added, smiling wickedly at her adopted brother. "Actually, he hates being anywhere by himself."
"Gee, thanks for that, Alice," Emmett said, bumping his fist against her shoulder. "Reveal everything about me to the new girl, why don't you?" His amber gaze turned back onto Sadie. "So, you up for the ride, Sadie?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm up for the ride," Sadie said before pushing Alice's arm off of her shoulders. "But right now, I need to head upstairs and take a shower. Apparently, my body reeks." She glanced over at Alice. "Please tell Esme not to go overboard with the food today. I may eat a lot but my figure is going to get ruined if I keep eating like I do because of her."
"I'll relay the message, but she's probably not going to listen." Alice bounced on the tips of her toes. "Can I pick out your outfit for the day? Please, please, please."
Sadie nodded. "Only because you're going to pester me if I don't let you."
"Yay!" Alice grabbed hold of Sadie's hand and pulled her past Emmett. "We'll see you in a little bit, Emmett."
Sadie glanced back over her shoulder as Alice pulled her up the stairs and saw that he was staring up at her with that strange look in his eyes. Her heart thudded heavily in her chest and her body felt warm all over again. Sadie bit her bottom lip and looked away.
God, please don't do this. I can't take this again.
OOOOOOOOO
A/N: What did you think? Leave a comment or two in the review box and I'll try to get back to you in a timely manner. Please and thanks to you all! –Scarlet
