Hello there,

I am here once again with another fic [Insert Bernie Sanders meme] (This is one of my Quarantine babies) So this is sort of both first chapter and premise of this new story (that I hope you guys like) and well I wanna hear what you think about it in the reviews/comment section. Btw I've finally decided that I'm not going to be lazy and will post both here in and in AO3, so yeah, more stories are coming, you can count on that.

Much love,

Alex.

September 20th

Forks, Washington 1987.

Alexander Black, no relation to the Blacks of the Reservation, held his newborn girl in his hands, a proud smile on his face and then his eyes softened as he gazed back at his tired wife Rosemarie.

"We have a healthy little girl, Rose," he told her.

Rosemarie smiled tiredly at him, "now, what will we name her?"

"Alexandra?" Alexander asked hopefully.

Rosemarie rolled her eyes but nodded, "Alexandra Jay," she said.

"Jay? After your late brother? Jayden?" Alexander asked, a little bit surprised.

"Yes, he was once my best friend, it's only fitting, since I won't be able to have another child," she explained.

Alexander nodded, "Very well, did you hear that, sweetheart, your name is Alexandra Jay Black, our little treasure," he told the baby.

For her part, little Alexandra Black had opened her eyes, baby blue curious eyes, taking everything new around her. Perhaps if Alexander had been a little more observant, he had realized the smart spark in those baby blue eyes. But it didn't matter at the time, all was well and the Black family, in the small hospital room, welcomed the new girl into the fold.

Forks, Washington.

It was 1989 and Alexandra 'Aly' Black, was a precocious one and a half year old. Her parents Alexander and Rosemarie were two very loved and respected businessman and architect respectively, both usually travelling around the country to fulfill their work obligations, although never at the same time, since one had to stay behind to be with their not so small bundle of joy. She was a model child, never cried much and always seemed to pay attention to whatever her parents were talking about.

For being one and a half, she was quite well developed, what her parents didn't know was that it wasn't her first rodeo, not at all, Aly Black was actually a reincarnated soul. Aly, who once had preferred to be called Alex, was completely baffled about her current predicament, she was a baby, and her parents were her parents, but everything else was wrong. For starters, her dad seemed to be an only child, and her mom had somehow lost her older brother back in her childhood days. Aly was also an only child with no opportunity to have a sibling, the pregnancy had been rough on her mom, but that didn't bother her at all, her brother in her past life had been a real asshole, she could live without him.

Another thing that bothered Aly to no end was that her family lived in Forks, Washington. Not Spain, not sunny Miami, hell not even New Jersey… no… she lived in Forks and she had a playmate named Isabella Swan, it was a cosmic joke if she had ever heard one. Another difference from her past life that she noticed was her parents coloring, it was wrong too, gone were her dad's warm brown eyes to be replaced with stormy blue, which she had inherited this time around, and gone was her mother's auburn hair to be replaced with long black tresses. It wasn't that they looked much different from their counterparts, it was just different and it bugged her a little, but she would get used to them, they loved her as they had loved her before and she would love her parents once more, she always did.

In her year and a half of living she had been introduced to the Swans, Charlie Swan, a handsome young police officer, he had just joined the local force and his wife Renee was a little looney but Aly being a baby tolerated them and their child enough, besides, she knew that eventually Renee and Bella would leave Charlie and she quite liked the not-yet-chief. The Swans dined at her house once a week since Aly's dad was friends with Charlie.

When Renee eventually left Charlie, her dad helped the man around, since her family was wealthy enough, her dad helped to pay for someone to take care of Charlie's parents, while Charlie focused all his time and strength on the police force. And Aly? Well she had new playmates in the shape of Angela Webber and Jessica Stanley, it was never too early to begin shaping strong independent women.

Aly Black continued to grow, when she was five she met those other Blacks, the ones from the reservation, Charlie managed to get the Forks' Blacks to the reservation one weekend and so Aly was introduced to Rachel, Rebecca and baby Jacob. Sarah Black was a total sweetheart and Aly quite enjoyed the other Reservation children, especially Leah and Emily, the three became fast friends and so began Aly's monthly trips to the Reservation.

When she was nine, she was reintroduced to Isabella, call me Bella, Swan, the other nine year old was a silent, clumsy and slightly 'too mature' child, but she became somewhat part of her Reservation friends, since she was usually piled with her small clique of friends. Leah didn't really like Bella and Emily was completely indifferent to the other girl, so Aly being the mentally oldest one, tried to include Bella whenever possible.

At school she also had her small clique, her, Angela and Jessica were her main friends, also Ben Cheney and Mike Newton, although sometimes Eric Yorkie joined them, although her real 'nemesis' was Lauren Mallory and her clique of wannabe cheerleaders. Aly despised Lauren Mallory and the two had clashed since they had met one another. Lauren wanted to be the Queen Bee of the School and it was something that Aly Black was not going to tolerate, if there was anyone at the top the food chain, it was going to be Alexandra Black, not wannabe Lauren.

Their fights got physical in middle school, Lauren tried to dunk Aly in a toilet and Aly had retaliated, they had both been suspended for a week, but Aly had been smug about it, then Lauren had tried sticking gum in Aly's long black hair, thankfully Crisco had saved Aly's locks but Aly had retaliated with green hair dye and was suspended again. The last time they fought in seventh grade, Aly broke Lauren's nose as the girl and her lackeys had cornered her, Aly ended up with a few scratches, but she had broken Lauren's nose, she had been smug about that too.

After that last confrontation Lauren had backed off considerably, since Aly refused to let herself be bullied by the other girl, she was not a doormat and god forbid Lauren Mallory was going to ever scare her, as if.

Even though Lauren Mallory couldn't break her spirit, the deaths of her parents did.

Alexander and Rosemarie Black died in a car accident in June 2003, three months short of Aly's 16 birthday and just a year after the small family had moved to Rosemarie's latest renovated house in the woods. Aly had been home when it happened, Charlie Swan had gone to her house, a sorrowful look on his face when the smiling teen had opened the door to him.

"Chief!" she greeted him with a grin, "I didn't know you were coming, mom and dad aren't home yet, but I have dinner started, I'm making lasagna tonight."

Aly hadn't noticed Charlie's expression, nor the way his partner had stayed behind in the cruiser.

"Aly, kid," Charlie started, "I have bad news for you."

Aly's smile disappeared immediately, "What's wrong? Are mom and dad okay? Chief?"

"Oh kid, I'm so sorry," Charlie said, and in a most un-charlie-like manner he pulled the almost sixteen year old into a hug.

Aly broke down crying immediately as Charlie began explaining the accident, he waited for her to turn off the stove and to get a jacket since it was a little bit cold and he drove her to the hospital, her parents had died on impact, a drunk truck driver from Seattle had impacted their car, Aly saw the bloodied corpses of her parents and continued crying, the nurses offering hot tea and water to the distraught teen. She couldn't believe that her parents were dead, they were not supposed to be dead.

The funeral was a solemn thing, the entire town attended, even the Reservation, as Alexander and Rosemarie had been well loved in the community, Aly had said a few words before the bodies were lowered to the ground, thanking the town for being there for her in that hard moment. She had spent the rest of the summer between her and Charlie's house, her parents had left a will that dictated that she could be emancipated upon her sixteenth birthday.

Economically speaking she was set for the rest of her life, her parents had retired when she had turned thirteen and her mother had begun her last architectural project, the Black Family Home, that Aly now solely owned. So with enough money to last her a few lifetimes, Aly was set. Emotionally speaking, she was a wreck after her parents deaths, she had spent most of her summer in therapy and thus had been out of the loop of the Fork's rumour mill and so missed the arrival of the Cullen family in August of that same year, just in time to begin the new school year.

Aly was really not that excited to continue her schooling, but Charlie had convinced her otherwise, she needed to continue with her life and he had kindly told her once when they had both been at his house watching a football game. Aly had promised the Chief that she was not dropping out of school.

Her friends were understanding, Jessica and Angela were both empathetic with her and gave Aly her space without abandoning her, same with Ben and Mike; Leah left the Reservation for the entirety of the month of August to be with Aly at her house, a thing that Aly appreciated. When the new school year rolled around, Aly was ready to face the music once again, perhaps not as animatedly as she had once been, go sophomore year!

On her first day she was dropped at school by Charlie Swan, he had promised to drop her until she got her license, only a couple of days until the twentieth of September anyways. Aly was extremely thankful for Charlie. She got off the cruiser after handing the Chief a warm sandwich and a cup of coffee and began walking into the school's main building, ignoring the gazes of most of the students.

"Aly!" Jessica's voice brought her out of her thoughts and she looked from her locker to find Jessica Stanley with a slightly worried look on her face.

"Hey Jess," Aly answered with a small smile, Jessica was quick to pull her into a hug.

"I thought you were not coming today," Jessica said.

Aly's stormy blue eyes narrowed, "I promised Chief Swan that I was not going to drop out of school."

"Good," Angela said joining the two other girls, "we would miss you too much, besides, you can't leave us here alone, we'd die of boredom, Fork's already bleak enough."

Aly chuckled at Angela's words, "Relax, I'm not going anywhere for now, besides, mom and dad would want me to be happy and to thrive, I will not be dishonoring their memory by being a mopey teenager, my parents didn't raise a pushover."

"Well said," Jessica said with a grin, "by the way, did you hear about the new students?"

"What now?" Aly asked, confused as she closed her locker, the three girls began walking down the hallway.

"The new students joining us today, from that new family that arrived in August, the Cullens," Jessica explained.

"Ah, nope, hadn't heard about them until now, although now that you mention it, I think Charlie mentioned something about a new doctor in the hospital," Aly said as they walked.

"Mom met the doctor's wife, a really sweet woman," Angela added.

"That's nice, let's hope Forks doesn't crowd them much, I'd hate to be in their place as the new shiny toy," Aly said with a small shudder.

"That would suck," Jessica agreed.

"Well, this is my classroom ladies, see you over at Physics, Jess?" Aly asked, Jessica nodded.

"I'll save you a seat," she promised.

"And you Angie?" Aly asked.

"I have a history with Jess now, I believe we have Government and English together this semester," Angela told her with a smile.

"Good, get going so you won't be late, if we don't have more classes together I'll see you at lunch," Aly told them.

She was pulled into hugs by her friends before they left, she took a deep breath before walking into her Chemistry classroom and took a seat in the far back. The classroom filled slowly and Aly spotted her first Cullen of the day. Alice Cullen was a short pretty thing, looking like a fairy rather than a student and it was just her luck that Alice took the empty seat next to her, Aly shot the vampire a smile before returning her gaze to her sketch.

"Hi," a small voice greeted.

Aly looked up from her sketch and looked at Alice who was smiling at her, "Hi, I'm Aly Black."

She offered Alice her hand and the fairy-like vampire shook it carefully, her hand a little bit cold, "I'm Alice, Alice Cullen."

"You're new here," Aly stated, Alice nodded, "Well, if no one told you, welcome to Forks High, I apologize for my peers if they begin to hound you, they don't see new people... much."

Alice laughed prettily, "Thank you, it's okay, my family moves out a lot, we're kind of used to it, do yours too?"

"We used to, my parents and I, they passed this summer," Aly said, glancing down to her sketch.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Alice said, her face regretful.

"You didn't know, it's okay," Aly assured the vampire, "We used to travel a lot, every summer we visited somewhere new, mom was an architect and she loved renovating houses all over the place and dad was a businessman, he travelled a lot too."

"They sound like fantastic people," Alice told her.

"They were, I, um… how are you liking Forks?" Aly asked, changing the topic.

"It's really beautiful, it's calming," the vampire said.

Aly hummed in agreement, "It is, I live on the edge of the forest and sometimes I'd just like to get lost in the wilderness, be able to climb some trees and just paint the entire thing."

"You paint?" Alice asked interested.

"Yeah, it's a hobby of mine, I want to be an architect like my mom one day or a painter or both, who knows," Aly said softly.

"I sketch too," Alice told her, "But mostly fashion."

"Ooh! That's cool, planning to become a fashion designer? I bet one of my portfolios would inspire you," Aly grinned.

"I'd love to see them," Alice said at the same moment that the teacher walked into the classroom.

Aly winked at Alice as the teacher began talking about the class, once that class was over both girl and vampire walked out of the classroom still talking about their artistic pursuits.

"What class do you have now?' Aly asked.

"English, you?" Alice answered.

"Physics," Aly made a face as she checked her timetable, "This sucks, well, Alice, it was a real treat to meet you, I hope we have more classes together because if not I'll have to haunt you or something."

Alice laughed and nodded at Aly before saying goodbye and walking away. Aly got to her physics classroom and was quick to spot Jess and Edward Cullen in the classroom. She tried not to mind Edward much, apart from the fact that he could probably read her mind or something, but she had begun thinking about vampires and such and Edward had not moved, she had called his name in her mind, told him to turn around if he could hear her, threatened to expose his secret and nothing. That brought a smirk to her face, because it seemed that Edward Cullen couldn't read her mind.

Jessica for her part spent most of the class ogling at Edward until Aly told her friend to stop treating the new guy as a piece of meat. That calmed the other teen enough for them to pay attention in class. After physics, Aly trailed behind a small mob of students to her AP History class. To her surprise Rosalie and Jasper Hale were there, both seated primly next to each other, after the first glance she threw their way she ignored them for the rest of the class, unlike her peers who kept throwing glances and trying to talk to the blonde duo.

When the bell rang, Aly was one of the first students to leave, she was hungry and tired of being at school already. She made her way to the cafeteria, joined by a very cheery Mike Newton, she indulged his conversation and turned down his attempts at flirting.

"Mike, you and I, it's never going to happen, let's move forward," she chided him as gently as she could.

"Right, I just…" he mumbled.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and offered him a smile.

"Trust me, we're better off as friends and I promise that I'll be your wingman whenever you need me to," she assured the blonde boy.

Mike grinned at her, "Deal!"

The two walked into the cafeteria talking about their summers, Mike had gone camping with his family and Aly had remained in Forks for the first time in her life, she told him about her latest Penpal, a girl named Ariel from Arizona who seemed to be dating a guy that she was sure was a shapeshifter, although she didn't mention the shapeshifter part to Mike.

"Maybe I'll visit Arizona myself," Mike said as they made their way towards the line.

"I don't know Mike, I always had you pegged for a Cali guy," Aly told him.

Aly ordered two slices of pizza and a serving of fries along with a can of Coke, she waited for Mike to finish with his order and the two walked to the table where Ben, Angela and Jess were already waiting for them. Ben was quick to steal a fry from Aly's plate and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"How's the first day going?" asked Angela as Mike and Aly sat down.

"Dreadful, this is the year in which I really might die of boredom," Aly deadpanned eliciting a laugh from her friends.

"It's not that bad," Jessica said with a small blush on her cheeks, "I also share english with Edward Cullen."

Aly rolled her eyes at her friend, "Please don't hound the new guy, the last thing we need is the new family thinking that we're a bunch of hillbillies, because we're not."

Jessica scoffed at the thought of being called a hillbilly and crossed her arms, tossing her hair behind her shoulder, "as if!"

Aly grinned at her, "that's the spirit, Jess!"

"But have any of you had any more classes with them?" asked Mike in a whisper.

"Ben and I have algebra with Emmett Cullen," Angela said.

"Aly and I have Physics with Edward, and I have English too," Jessica said.

"I had government with Jasper Hale this morning," Mike said.

Ben, Mike, Angela and Jessica looked at Aly expectantly.

"I have Chemistry with Alice, she's nice, we talked about our love for drawing, and I think I spotted Rosalie and Jasper in my AP History class," Aly waved them off.

"You think you spotted them? Aly they're kind of hard to miss," Jessica pointed out.

Aly shrugged as she took a bite of her pizza.

After lunch she had her Chem Lab class, she walked into the classroom and was quick to seat at her preferred desk. As the other classes, the classroom filled slowly, now what she wasn't expecting was for Edward Cullen to take the seat next to hers, she wasn't completely sure she wanted to be partnered with the vampire for the entire class year.

"Hello," a velvety voice said.

Aly looked up from her bag and looked at Edward, "Hi, Edward, right?"

The aforementioned nodded, "And you're Aly Black, any relation to the Blacks of the reservation?"

"None, we're friends though, and when we were children, we used to joke that we were cousins far removed," Aly explained with a smile, "How about you? How are you liking Forks?"

"It's green," Edward said with a small smile.

Aly grinned at him, "indeed."

Edward continued to stare at her, she raised an eyebrow at him, "You're very hard to read."

"Nonsense, I'm an open book, mom used to say that I was a chatterbox," Aly told him smugly, take that mind reading vampire.

Edward hummed noncommittally, "What do you like?"

"As in? Literature? Art? Hobbies? Places?" Aly asked back.

"Hobbies," Edward said after thinking about it for a moment.

"I like painting, it's calming, also boxing and tae-kwan-do, I'm a black belt," Aly said proudly.

"Like any sports?"

"I love baseball, but just watching, I don't think I was made to play sports, I like high impact training, crossfit and that," Aly told him with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Edward seemed impressed by her answer, he was about to say something when the teacher walked in. Mr. Banner was quick to make introductions and began his class immediately. Aly tuned out the teacher as he began talking about lab safety and all that, focusing instead on the sketch she was doing. She felt Edward's eyes on her and he kicked her stool when Banner approached their desk to hand them a practice about the lab tools that they were going to use during the semester.

"Have you done this practice before?" Edward asked as he observed Aly absentmindedly filling her sheet.

"No, but I like to read beforehand," Aly answered, then looked up from her sheet to smirk at Edward, "Besides, I need to know all the rules if I am to break them properly."

After chem lab, Aly headed towards her AP Spanish class and was surprised to see Emmett and Jasper there, since she got there a little late she sat right next to the two vampires and offered them a smile as she placed her bag down next to her seat. Since Mrs. Goff lost no time in enforcing her 'no chatter' rule, Aly didn't have time to talk to the vampires, although she got paired up with Emmett for the class project that was due in a month, Mrs. Goff was intense like that.

Aly walked out of the classroom feeling extremely tired and exasperated with it all, she hated high school and she could not believe that for the second time in her existence, she was going through it again. She walked into the girl's locker room and grinned at Jessica before she got into a dresser to change into her gym clothes.

"Last class of the day, are you excited?" Jessica asked as they walked into the gym.

"More like completely exhausted, I should have dropped off when I had the chance, live off my inheritance or something, move to Alaska, become a hermit," Aly told Jessica.

"You're being too hard on yourself," Jessica said, looking at Aly.

Aly raised an eyebrow at her friend, "It's the first day Jess, how do you expect me to survive an entire year of this torture?"

"With a bitch-ass attitude and a smile on your face, or so a friend told me," Jessica said, bumping her shoulders with Aly.

Aly grinned, "Damn right, come on, let's blow this popsicle stand."

Aly was dropped off by Mike at Charlie's house, the Chief had given her a spare key and everything, she walked into the house and dropped her bag and herself on the nearest couch.

"Aly, is that you?" asked Charlie from somewhere in the house.

"Yeah, Chief," she answered but her voice was muffled by the couch.

"I bought cheese burgers from the Diner," Charlie said, his voice coming from the kitchen.

"With bacon?" Aly asked.

"And extra cheese," he answered dutifully.

Soon enough, Aly was joining the Chief in the kitchen. Charlie asked about her day at school but soon enough there was only content silence at the Swan residence, after lunch Charlie took Aly to her house and promised to pick her up the next morning and reminded her of their court appointed date for her emancipation.

The next few weeks were monotonous, Aly watched as the Cullens ingrained themselves into the school, only to recede a couple of days later and become the loners they were known to be. Since she was not killed or visited by vampires, Aly figured that Edward truly couldn't read her mind, she liked the idea of it, her thoughts were private and she didn't want a moody vampire having access to them.

Her sixteenth birthday came and went without much ado, Jessica, Angela, Mike and Ben got her a cupcake with a single candle on that she blew in the school cafeteria, she wasn't really in the mood for celebrating, Alice Cullen had wished her a happy birthday and that had been her Cullen interaction of the week. Aly then missed school the next day to get her emancipation done with and to get her license, it was a quick process since she already had her permit, and the day afterwards she arrived in her new sleek black Porsche Cayenne Turbo, her choice in vehicle had been a no brainer since she needed a vehicle that could handle dirt roads, the weather and that could still be stylish yet built like a tank, and Aly Black was known for being flashy.

She smirked to herself as she drove past the Cullen's Volvo, the five vampires stared at her and the SUV until she got off it and called Jessica who had just arrived. Jessica whistled as she approached the vehicle.

"Classy, and perhaps a little too much," Jessica said.

"Nonsense, it's the perfect vehicle for me, it screams Aly from practically everywhere, besides you know that I live off road, a car was not going to cut it for me," Aly explained as the two walked into the school.

"So you're officially an adult, it's done?" Jessica asked as they headed towards their lockers.

"Emancipated minor, there are still a few legal restrictions, or so the judge said, I'm just happy to give the Chief a break," Aly told Jessica as she rummaged through her locker.

"Chief Swan seems like a really cool guy," Jessica pointed out.

Aly stuck her head out of her locker to smile at Jessica, "He is, I'm sure he misses his daughter a lot, too bad Bella doesn't like Forks."

"You know the Chief's daughter?" Jessica asked.

"Barely, last time I saw the girl we were eleven or twelve and she's a bit shy, not like Leah or Emily," Aly said as she exchanged a few notebooks and books.

"Right, your friends from the reservation, how are they?" Jessica asked, sincere curiosity in her voice.

"Mmm… Leah is a bit bummed because her boyfriend broke up with her and Emily got swarmed into the drama, Becca just moved to Hawaii with her new husband and Rach is planning to leave next year to go to college," Aly explained.

"That sounds nice, I want to go to college, it sounds like a nice experience," Jessica said longily.

"Preach," Aly said as she closed her locker, "What do you have now?"

"History, you?"

"AP Calculus," Aly answered with a groan.

Jessica laughed, "You'll live, see you at lunch!"

Aly did survive her day, and after school she had quite a shopping list to get from the local supermarket, so after school she bid goodbye to her friends and drove to the supermarket, she parked relatively close to the entrance and walked in reviewing her list, not really minding the people around her. She grabbed a cart and the first thing she did was haul a box of ginger ale into it. She continued her trek, dropping things into the cart and aimlessly walking around the supermarket. She packed bagel bites, frozen mozzarella sticks and frozen pizza. She grabbed her favorite laundry detergent and a box of tide pods, a smile on her face as she did so. Toilet paper and a couple of more miscellaneous items went into her cart, and in the spices section she accidentally bumped into another cart.

"Shit!" Aly swore under her breath before she looked up, "fuck, I'm so sorry," she clasped her hands over her mouth.

Esme Cullen smiled at her, "It's no problem sweetie, I promise not to tell your parents."

Aly smiled weakly at the vampire in front of her, "Thanks, ma'am."

"Your cart seems to be quite full, is anyone around to help you?" Esme asked kindly, watching as Aly fiddled to move her quite heavy cart.

"I… uh… no, I'm here by myself actually, I'm Aly Black," Aly introduced herself and recognition filled Esme's eyes immediately.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry about your parents, and I just brought them up," the vampire said sincerely.

"It's okay, really, people bring them up all the time, I'm used to it," Aly assured her.

Esme smiled at her, "I'm Esme Cullen, I believe you go to school with my children."

"Oh yes, I share several classes with them, you have a lovely family, Mrs. Cullen," Aly told her.

"Oh thank you, Aly," Esme said, at that same moment Emmett joined them in the aisle holding a box of waffles.

"I found the ones I wanted, mom," he said as he tossed the box of waffles in Esme's cart.

"Ah, Emmett, why don't you help Aly around with her cart," Esme said.

Aly looked between the two vampires, "oh please, don't bother yourself, I can push it."

"It's no problem, Aly," Emmett said with a smile as he took the handle of her cart, "we could discuss our spanish project as you shop."

"I'll leave you be, it was a pleasure to meet you, Aly," Esme said before taking her cart and walking to another aisle, leaving Emmett alone with Aly.

Aly noticed that Emmett was quite tall compared to her 5'3 frame, she hoped that she had a couple of more inches to grow. He smiled at her and motioned for her to lead the way, she sighed before she began walking into the next aisle.

"Have you thought about a topic?" Emmett asked.

"Mmm… not really, we could do it about the spanish inquisition, but make it a little fun, or good things that the French have given us," Aly said pensively.

"French toast?" Emmett asked.

"The guillotine," Aly answered with a small smile making the burly vampire laugh.

"That's a good one, we could bring cake to the class," Emmett proposed.

"Like Marie Antoinette, sure, let them eat cake," Aly replied giggling as she placed another item on her cart.

"It is decided then, we'll talk about the French this month," Emmett declared.

"This month?"

"It's a year long assignment, Miss Goff wants us to find a new topic each month, I thought you had been paying attention," Emmett said with a smirk.

"I might've dozed off a few times, but hey, we can do this, our second topic can be the black plague, Europe vs one sewer boy, and don't get me started on plague doctors," Aly said grinning at Emmett.

"Only if I can dress like a plague doctor," Emmett told her.

"Deal!"

Emmett continued pushing Aly's cart around the supermarket and even helped her load up her SUV.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to unload it?" Emmett asked as he closed the trunk.

"I have to, I live alone now, emancipated minor and all that," she said softly.

Emmett frowned at her, "I'll go with you and help you."

"Are you sure? Doesn't your mom need you?" Aly asked, confused.

Emmett snorted, "I have two more brothers she can use around, munchkin, I'll go tell her I'll go with you, wait right here."

And with that Emmett began jogging towards Esme's car, Esme lowered her window and he seemed to be explaining the situation to her before she nodded, he smiled and several minutes later he was standing next to Aly again.

"She says it's cool, and she can pick me up later if you give me your address," Emmett told Aly.

"Oh sure, mmm… it's a little difficult to say, there's a dirt road at the very entrance of town, to the right, like if you were to drive straight to the forest, and you drive straight into it for a few miles until it divides in two, you make a right and continue for about two miles and you eventually reach the house, the house number is 5120, you cannot miss it," Aly explained.

Emmett suddenly began laughing and Aly raised an eyebrow at him, "You're our neighbor."

"Excuse me?" Aly asked skeptically.

"On the dirt road, if you make a left and drive a couple of miles, then you reach our house, hence we're probably the closest to you," Emmett explained.

"Oh, your dad's a doctor, right?" Aly asked.

Emmett nodded.

"That's a nice thought, instead of calling 911 I can call your house instead, I bet your dad would find my house faster than an ambulance," Aly said as she opened the door to her SUV.

Emmett was quick to jump into the passenger seat and Aly turned on the vehicle, she drove fast and she knew it, and she also knew that Emmett probably wouldn't mind her driving.

"This is a nice vehicle," Emmett said as she drove.

"Thanks, I was torn between this one and a Range Rover, in the end my sense of vanity won, and I'm very happy about it," Aly told him.

"You're driving a little fast," Emmett said, golden eyes on the dash.

Aly smirked at him, "What? Scared of a little speed?"

Emmett barked a laugh, "You wish, munchkin, I just never expected you to be a fast driver."

"I'm not a grandma, besides I've got places to be," Aly's voice was teasing.

Emmett continued to smile and after a moment began fiddling with the radio until he found a station that was playing 80's rock. Aly sang along to many of the songs and Emmett did his best to sing all the songs off tune, when they arrived at Aly's home Emmett was visibly excited.

"I always wanted to know who lived here," he told her as he helped her off the vehicle.

"Been snooping around lately?" Aly teased.

Emmett laughed, "My brothers and I came upon this place in our morning run a couple of days ago, we were curious, I wanted to ring the doorbell, but Edward said no," he explained.

"Well, now you know, hope it doesn't disappoint you," Aly told him with a wink.

"Naah, you're pretty cool," he assured her.

"You and your siblings are cool too, perhaps a bit reclusive, but then again, the residents of Forks can be a bit overbearing," Aly said as she and Emmett began carrying bags into the house.

"You're not as bad, my brother, Edward, has a hard time reading you and he's usually good with people," Emmett commented as they returned to the car.

"I think he's looking too much into it, I'm basically an open book, I've just had a lot on my plate lately," Aly said softly.

Emmett gave her a sympathetic look and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, losing your family is not easy but it does get better and eventually you'll find another family to call your own."

"Thank you, Emmett," Aly said with a smile.

Emmett Cullen stayed in Aly's house until after dinner, the girl somehow managed to convince him, a vampire, to eat more food than what was necessary, but he found that he didn't necessarily minded tasting dirt to please the small human, besides, the venom in his stomach would take care of the human food. He honestly felt bad for the human girl, she seemed so bright and yet he could see how her light had dimmed after losing her parents, how she longed for company and a constant presence in her life.

Esme made a show of picking him up, and even thanked Aly for a container of leftover lasagna that the girl had offered, he got in the car and Esme didn't leave until Aly was back inside the house.

"She seems like a lovely girl," Esme commented as she drove them back to their house.

"She is," Emmett agreed, "if a little lonesome."

"Perhaps you guys can befriend her, it would help you fit in a little better if at least one student can vouch for your personalities," Esme reasoned.

"Edward is wary of her, and interested, since he can't read her mind, Alice is convinced that they are going to best friends one day, Jazz says that even though she seems happy there's an underlying sadness with her and Rose is completely indifferent to her, but you know that Rose doesn't like humans much," Emmett told Esme.

"I think that Rose can warm up to her, she just needs a little push in the right direction, Rose is not the most trusting person that there is, Em," Esme said softly.

"I know, you know, I once thought that she and I were meant to be together, I didn't understand her until you explained what had happened to her, I do hope she finds someone," Emmett said, his voice serious.

"And she will, we're all relatively young for vampires, and we have eternity," Esme assured him as she parked the car in the garage.

"Thanks, Esme," Emmett said with a smile.

Esme smiled back at him, "Don't mention it."

Emmett walked into the house and focused to see where his siblings were. He could hear Jasper and Alice talking in their room, Rose was watching TV in her room, another teenage show, he smiled at that, Carlisle was in his office and Edward was in his room listening to Debussy. Emmett sighed as he considered his options.

"Hey Em," said Jasper creeping up on him, Emmett rolled his eyes at the blond vampire, "wanna go for a hunt?"

That perked Emmett up, "just us?" he asked as he followed Jasper towards the backyard.

"Yeah, Rose, Alice and Edward went earlier, when you were playing human with the Black girl," Jasper said with a small smile on his face.

Emmett huffed, "you know me, always willing to help a dame in distress."

"And that one needs all the help she can get," Jasper said as they ran away from the house.

"How so?" Emmett asked.

"Edward, he's frustrated as to why he can't read her thoughts," Jasper explained.

"And what is he going to do about it? He can't crack the girl's head open and read her thoughts.

Jasper laughed, "Don't give him ideas, Em, you know how mopey he gets."

"Edward just needs a good lay, I've been telling him for the past few decades and Tanya's always been willing," Emmett remarked.

"More than willing, I'd say," Jasper teased.

"Hey, I'm a gentleman, I'm not to be running my mouth," Emmett said, flashing Jasper a grin.

"Well, I, for one, I'm glad I found Alice when I did," Jasper said as he came to a stop over a valley.

"When I was first turned, after Rose turned me down, I used to wonder a lot about my 'mate', today Esme shared a little bit of wisdom to me, we're, you and Carlisle excluded, all relatively young vampires," Emmett said as he observed a pack of wild deer.

"That you are, I was born in 1844, almost a full century before you did and Carlisle's over three hundred years and the Denali sister are almost over a thousand years, and none of them have found a mate, Carlisle found Esme by pure luck and Alice found me because of her gift," Jasper explained.

Emmett nodded, "How does it feel, though? How do you know that a person is meant for you like that?"

Jasper smiled at Emmett, "I guess it's different for everyone, but in my case, I felt a pull to be inside that Cafe that day and when Alice walked through the doors it was as if the world stopped for a moment, and I knew. Why are you asking now? Feeling like you found your one?"

Emmett tilted his head to the side and frowned, "No? Just curious I guess."

Jasper nodded at him before he launched himself to the hunt, Emmett closely following. After drinking down two bears, Emmett felt better with himself, he checked his watch as he and Jasper approached their home and realized that it was still relatively early for humans and so decided to go check on his newest human friend, he was mindful to stay within the shadows and was thankful for the floor to ceiling glass windows that composed most of Aly's home. He observed her in her bedroom, sitting in the middle of her bed, without thinking about it, he approached the house until he could hear her. She was crying, that much was clear from his distance, her sobs were heart wrenching to hear, even at the distance that he was.

"She's been crying for a while now," said Edward to Emmett's right.

"And you've been creeping on her this whole time?" Emmett asked.

Edward raised an eyebrow at his brother, "Hello kettle, I'm pot, oh look! We're both black."

"I just came to check on my friend, you on the other hand, want to pull her apart to see how her mind works," Emmett said as he crossed her arms, there was a part of him that didn't want Edward to be close to Aly, like at all.

"You do know that beyond the fact that I can't read her mind, the human holds no interest to me, you know what Emmett? her blood doesn't even call to me," Edward told a very stiff Emmett.

Emmett for his part found himself thinking about Aly's scent, it was sweet and warm at the same time, like hot chocolate with a hint of spice like the one his mamma used to make back when he had been human, it was one of his most vivid memories from his time as a human, the taste of his Ma's hot chocolate, soft like velvet and spiced with a hint of ginger, just enough to taste. Emmett blinked and returned his gaze to Edward who was looking at him, worry etched in his features.

"What?" Emmett asked.

"I think that the human is your mate," Edward said slowly.

Emmett could have punched him, "the what now?"

"The way you're thinking about her, you're jealous of me being here and you're comparing her scent to something you clearly loved as a human," Edward explained.

Emmett thought about it for a moment and his eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Edward, you tell none of this, he thought sharply, "or I'll hurt you."

Edward glared at Emmett but nodded before he took off into the night, Emmett ran a hand through his hair, tousling his dark locks, he stole one more glance at the crying human before he too took off.