My eyes fluttered open slowly, weighed down by my heavy eyelids. It took me a few seconds to actually register what the hell was happening or where the hell I was, until I remembered that it was the day after the graduation party and Bella had stayed for a sleepover. We'd stayed up until maybe four in the morning just chatting and acting like utter retards. Huh, fun times.

I went to get up but felt something preventing me from moving. Looking down, I noticed that Bella was sprawled across me, absolutely fast asleep. She muttered something about plants before rolling over so that she was blocking my way up even more. As carefully as possible, I manoeuvred myself out from underneath her and climbed out of bed, checking myself in the mirror. The night before, I'd changed into an oversized hoodie and shorts, and I honestly looked like a walking bin bag.

Once I'd pulled my hood over my head, I stumbled deliriously out of the room and down the stairs into the kitchen. For some reason something felt off, but I couldn't be asked to find out what. A yawn escaped my lips while I reached for the fridge but, just before my hand made contact with the handle, a pair of arms suddenly encircled my waist from behind.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"

I tried to wriggle out of their grip, my heart racing out of my chest. I don't want to be kidnapped, not now, I'm too young to die-

"Carissima, breathe, it is just me."

I spun around on my heel so that my gaze met Caius, who gave me an amused expression. As soon as my slowly-functioning brain realised that I wasn't going to die, I wrapped my arms around him tightly.

"Don't scare me like that," I murmured into him.

"What is happening?! Stay away from-"

The entire Cullen clan were now gathered behind us, as clearly my screaming frenzy had caught their attention. I cut Edward off mid-sentence, pulling away from Caius' embrace.

"Edward, chill, its fine-" I outstretched an arm to hold him back just before my own sentence was cut off by Caius, who was now trying to snap back at Edward.

"You do not tell me what to do, you pathetic-"

"Caius, chill babe," I placed a reassuring hand on his chest, attempting to push him back, but for obvious reasons he didn't budge.

At that perfect timing, Bella's light footsteps carefully sounded down the stairs and into the room. She let out a peaceful yawn, staring at the ground as she wandered in while looking more relaxed than ever. I wondered how long it would take her to notice what was happening around her.

"Can you keep it down? I was trying to sleep…" she trailed off as she lifted her head so that her gaze met the kings.

All of a sudden, she leapt over to Edward with a yelp, clinging onto his side for dear life. In her defence, it's not every day you wake up and wander downstairs to be met by three powerful emo vampires who have previously attempted to kill you.

"You again, you shameful-"

"Caius, come on, please don't do this now," I hugged him again in a weak attempt to calm him down.

"It is wonderful to see you again, Isabella," Aro's voice chimed in joyously from behind Caius.

I stepped around Caius and handed Aro my hand to read all of my recent thoughts and memories. After a few seconds, he pulled away with a light chuckle, still holding my hand tightly.

"Of course, young Bella," he bowed his head lightly, giving me a knowing look.

There was an awkward silence between everyone in the room, most of them staring at me in shock of my close proximity to the kings more than anything. Finally, Carlisle broke the silence.

"It is lovely to finally see you again, Aro. If there is no issue here, let us give everyone some space,"

He clapped his hands together, gesturing everyone to get back to what they were doing before heading back to his office himself. Now that everyone was gone, it gave me a chance to actually have a proper, uninterrupted reunion. I threw myself into Aro's arms as he held me to him, glad to finally be in his embrace again. He pressed a light kiss to my forehead before I moved on to Marcus, wrapping my arms around him as tightly as possible while his chin was rested on the top of my head. After pulling away, he pulled the hood from my hoodie down from my head, tucking a stray hair behind my ear.

"We have missed you terribly, tesoro," he spoke.

"I've missed you too," I responded while Caius draped his arms over my shoulders from behind me comfortably with his cold nose buried in my neck, breathing in my scent, "I didn't realise you were going to come this early."

"Neither did we, cara mia, but our schedule was relatively empty for the next few days so it seemed like a brilliant idea to surprise you," Aro informed me happily.

"Are we leaving today?"

"That is the plan, unless you are particularly set on staying in Forks for a few more days."

"No, I'm good, I've been excited for weeks," I squealed with a massive grin on my face.

"We'd best allow you to ready yourself for the day and pack your belongings," Caius added, letting go of my shoulders but still stood directly behind me.

"I'll be back in a bit!" I called, hurrying away up the stairs and back into the spare room.

Bella seemed startled as I walked in, jumping slightly while sat on the edge of the bed with her phone. I went over to my suitcase and pulled out a pair of denim shorts and a white t-shirt.

"You okay, Bella?" I spun to face her.

"Yeah, good, great in fact," she sounded unconvinced herself.

"I'm sorry if my lot scared you, they have a tendency to do the same to me," I laughed to try and lighten the mood.

"It's fine, why was Caius angry at me?"

"Hmm?" I stopped just before reaching the bathroom.

"He just, he called me a shameful something, I don't know, you cut off his sentence," she stared in her lap.

"Oh, that was just about the argument we had a while ago, I still need to tell him that we're good now."

"You told them about it?"

"Relax, they were going to find out soon enough, what with Aro's ability. And besides, due to us being so close, they'd never lay a finger on you…probably," I shrugged with a grin, locking the door to the bathroom behind me.

I got ready as fast as possible, managing to dress in thirty seconds flat and brush my teeth in a minute. After quickly adjusting my hair a little, I unlocked the door and started packing up my things into my suitcase neatly.

"I'm probably just over thinking this, but about what you said earlier, about the Volturi probably never laying a finger on me, you were joking, right?" Bella asked, sounding genuinely worried, bless her.

"Bells, I will never never ever let them hurt you or any of the Cullens, okay? Not for as long as I'm alive," I reassured her, pulling her in for a quick hug, "now, can you please sit on my suitcase? I'm leaving pretty much now and I need to zip it up."

"How much stuff do you have in there?"

"Well, it barely closed before, and now there's all the clothes Alice bought me as well, so I really don't know how I'm going to remotely shut this thing."

With a roll of her eyes, Bella sat on the suitcase with her legs crossed, watching as I grimaced while pulling the zipper around. After a few minutes of painful tugging, it was finally sealed and closed.

"Done," I panted, marvelling my handiwork.

"Now how are you going to get it down the stairs?" she asked quite rightly.

"I'll help!"

Alice burst into the room, holding the suitcase smugly above her head and skipping back down the stairs to the front room with me in tow. All traces of the party from the night before were gone, except from the speaker and light systems which were still set up in the corner. Jasper, Emmett, and, funnily enough, Rose were sat on the sofa playing Mario Kart, looks of utter focus on their faces. The kings were stood behind them, Aro and Marcus watching on in amusement while Caius scowled at the TV. Without warning, Alice dropped my suitcase down with a loud bang, causing everyone to spin around.

"Alice, I was so close to winning!" Emmett whined.

"You weren't, you really weren't," Rose snarked as her kart crossed the finish line in first place, closely followed by Jasper who came in second.

"Are you ready to leave, carissima?" Caius asked, desperate to get out of the door.

"Yeah, let's go," I replied, attempting to wheel my suitcase out but failing, "why is this so heavy?" I wheezed.

Marcus materialised beside me and held it in one hand with ease, casually strolling to the front door followed by Aro and Caius.

"Show off," I muttered behind him.

Just before we reached the door, Emmett appeared in front of me with an excited grin on his face, the rest of the Cullens gathered behind. Bit harsh, was he really that happy that I was leaving?

"Eli, I have a really fun game real quick," he held up three pens.

"Emmett, don't you dare," Carlisle scolded.

"But it's funny." he insisted.

"Will I find it funny?"

"No comment. Look, just put your right hand on the table," he gestured to a side table in the middle of the room.

I reluctantly followed his instructions, half-expecting something to leap out at me. The kings stood protectively behind me along with Demetri, apparently just as clueless as I was. Once my hand was facing down on the table, he placed the pens between my fingers, holding the ends of them in his fist.

"Okay, what now?" I asked sceptically.

"What sound does a cat make?"

"Sorry?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Just answer, what sound does a cat make?"

"Um, meow," I answered pathetically.

"What sound does a dog make?"

"Woof."

"What sound does a cow make?"

"You're kidding? Moo." I sighed.

"What sound does a pig make?"

"Oink," I cringed at myself.

"What sound do you make during sex?"

At that exact moment, he tightened his grip on the pens, causing a sharp pain to suddenly run through my hand.

"AH, FUCK!" I screamed, retracting my hand away and shaking it quickly to reduce the pain.

Everyone stood there with their jaws dropped in shock, everyone except Emmett whose laughter was the only sound filling the room, clutching onto his sides to contain himself.

"Sorry," I blushed, staring down at the ground.

"Emmett, apologise to Eli, now," Esme spoke calmly.

"I'm…sorry?" he shrugged.

In response to his weak apology, I picked up the pens and hurled all three of them at him. Obviously, he caught them with ease, but I was livid either way.

"That was NOT funny," I snapped as we narrowed our eyes at each other.

"Let us go, bellissima, we cannot be running late," Aro stood above me with a hand placed on my shoulder while still trying to suppress a chuckle, steering me out of the door. He was the shortest of the three of them, but nonetheless he towered above me at 5'10".

"Bye for now, thank you for having me!" I called behind me as I was ushered over to the car.

Demetri stood waiting with the car door open, allowing me to climb in and seat myself in the middle. Caius joined me on my left and Marcus sat on my right while Aro sat in the passenger seat. Due to the humid weather and the car being painted black, I felt like I was sitting in an oven waiting to be cooked alive, not to be dramatic or anything. While fanning myself with my left hand, I leant across Marcus' lap to the window and winded it down as far as it would go.

"You could have simply asked me to open the window," he remarked, running a quick hand through my hair.

"Leaning over you is way more fun," I countered as I sat back up straight, glancing over at Caius, "am I going to have to lean over you too?"

"If you insist," he smirked.

Rolling my eyes, I placed a hand on his thigh and reached over to the windowsill, winding down the window on his side as well. Once it was half way down my hand slipped, causing my head to fall into his lap. With his hand rested on my shoulder, he finished rolling down the window for me before helping me to sit back up straight.

"You are welcome," he spoke.

Demetri instantly started the engine and pulled away from the Cullens' driveway. For some reason, everyone was wearing coats and jackets in the car, Demetri even wearing a pair of black leather gloves.

"Isn't it a little too hot to be wearing jackets?" I asked.

"We are not affected by heat," Caius responded simply.

"Sure, but now you just look a little out-of-place. I mean, its 26°C in the sun."

"How much less clothing did you want us to wear?" Marcus chuckled.

I slapped him lightly across the chest. "All I'm saying is you look dressed enough to go on an expedition to Antarctica."

"What do you have against Antarctica?" he teased.

"I don't have anything against Antarctica!" I yelled exasperatedly.

"Then I do not see the issue in us wearing extra jackets, tesoro."

"Why do I bother?" I muttered, leaning my head back.

Suddenly, I remembered I brought my iPod and speaker out with me, and plugged in the iPod. At this point, we were driving along the motorway at full speed, the windows half-closed to stop the loud noise of the wind coming into the car.

"Eliana, what are you doing?" Caius questioned me irritatedly.

To answer his question, I turned on the one song I knew would eternally piss him off.

All you ladies pop yo' pussy like this,
Shake your body, don't stop, don't miss,

This time, Caius didn't even hesitate; he snatched the speaker from my hand and crushed it in his fist before tossing it out of the window and onto the motorway. I heard it shatter into a million pieces, completely unsalvageable at this point. Everyone in the car turned to stare at him in silence with their mouths forming a perfect 'O', including Demetri who was glancing through the rear view mirror.

"CAIUS!" I angrily broke the silence.

"It is a terrible, disgusting song," he justified himself simply.

"So?! What, you just toss my speaker out of the window?!"

He looked to Aro and Marcus for help, shrugging his shoulders in desperation. He really didn't understand why I was angry at him?

"Oh-ho, don't look at them, albino bunny, they can't help you now," I seethed.

"Excuse me? What did you call me?"

I stubbornly refused to reply to him, turning around and with my back to Caius so I was facing Marcus with my arms crossed over my chest. Quickly, I noticed that both Aro and Marcus both had amused expressions on their faces, facing forwards to try to seem as serious as possible.

"It's not funny, nothing about this is funny," I growled.

"Nobody said it was," Aro responded lightly.

I attempted to keep the whole silent-treatment thing going for the duration of the car journey, but I completely snapped after only ten minutes, my rage getting the better of me.

"I'm sorry, but what came over you to throw that thing out of the window?"

"You would not turn the music off."

"You didn't ask me to turn it off!"

"Well maybe you should not have turned it on in the first place!"

"Or maybe you should've been mature and tried to communicate verbally instead of destroying my stuff!"

"It was one item!"

"So?!"

"There was no 'stuff' being destroyed, it is easily replaceable!"

"It doesn't mean you can just go and break it then, does it?!"

"You are so immature!"

"Me?! I'm the immature one, Mr. Anger-Management Issues?!"

"Take that back right now!"

"No, you can't make me!"

"Will you stop arguing like CHILDREN?!" Aro bellowed, filling the car with stunned silence.

There was a pause. "She started it," Caius muttered.

"I started it? No, no, this one is on you-"

"Eliana, what did I just say?" Aro scolded lightly.

"What- but- I- UGH!" I growled, aggressively turning to face the front with a frown on my face.

"And I am the one with anger-management issues," Caius muttered under his breath in disbelief.

I slapped him on the arm as hard as I could, which obviously didn't hurt him at all whatsoever, but it still caused a loud slapping sound to fill the car.

"You are testing my patience, Eliana," Aro said calmly.

"Didn't you hear what he just said?" I glared pointedly at Caius.

"Simply ignore him, do not provide a reaction. This kind of immaturity is what I would expect from a young child, not you. Brother, this applies to you as well," Aro lectured both of us, "Now, we are about to endure a twelve-hour plane ride together, so please do be sensible and behave properly, and I do advise you against causing me to lose my temper. That is truly a decision you will regret. Is that understood?"

I nodded my head to keep the peace, but Caius was stubbornly refusing. I nudged him, causing him to join in with my reluctant nodding.

"Good. Now, unless you are willing to have a mature and sensible conversation with each other like the civilised beings you are, we will spend the rest of this car journey in silence."

And that we did. Not a word was spoken for the remaining twenty minutes in the car although, unbeknownst to Aro, we continued to kick each other's legs and jab each other in the torso regardless.

Author's note: These constant lil' arguments between Eli and Caius are so much fun to write haha. It's honestly at the point now where I have most of the rest of this story planned out, so stay tuned yay. Thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback, stay safe, and ily!