Chapter Four - Just Like Magic
In English, Seth could barely sit still. He was positively wriggling with glee, texting Juliet while Lise had her back turned. Bella just smiled and shook her head. After English, Seth and Jake joined us for lunch. Lewis's eyes nearly fell out of his head when the boys sat down on either side of me. Harper was the only one unhappy to see us. His face turned an angry shade of red, and he scooted his chair closer to Juliet's.
I didn't feel so bad, suddenly, about the breakup that would probably occur soon. Realistically, Harper was a possessive and jealous, controlling little weiner. I'd likely celebrate when they broke it off - Juliet deserved someone who wouldn't treat her like property. Someone like Seth.
Lunch was sufficiently awkward. Harper attempted to block any conversation between Seth and Juliet. That threw Juliet into a bad mood and Seth into a worse one. Lewis was a ball of anxiety after absorbing all the tension. Jake and I's jokes all fell flat when no one was in the mood to laugh or have a good time.
When the bell rang, I grabbed Juliet and just about sprinted to art class, eager to escape the atmosphere.
"God, can you believe it?" Juliet huffed, plunking down into her seat. "Harper's been crazy since yesterday."
"I can believe it," I nodded. "No offense, Jules, but Harper has got a problem."
"I know," she let her head drop into her hands. I dropped the subject when Jake and Seth entered. After a few moments, the easygoing atmosphere from Socials returned. We laughed and joked, messing around with art supplies and drawing in our sketchbooks. After art, Juliet and I reluctantly said goodbye to our imprints.
"I don't know what it is about Seth," Juliet rubbed her forehead as we walked into Drama together. "He's got this… spark. He's like a little light and I just want to be around him. I've known him for two days!"
"Seth is a great guy," I agreed. "Maybe this is out of place, but you two have a connection."
"It's like magic," she whispered as class started. "Just like magic."
After school, I led Juliet across the parking lot to our family's usual parking spot. Usual as in everyone else was afraid to park near the Cullens. She stared at the cars with wide eyes for a half second before covering up her shocked expression.
"We'll take the Jeep!" I called to Emmett. He was standing in front of it while Rose perched on the hood. Once I got a thumbs up, I boosted my new friend into the massive car. She looked at the complicated harness and shook her head.
"Here," I reached over and showed her a simpler seatbelt for normal traveling. Once we were both plugged in safely, Rose and Emmett joined us.
"It's nice to meet you," Rosalie twisted around, facing Juliet. "I'm Rosalie, but I'm sure Renesmee has already told you all about her favorite sister."
"You're the one who does her hair," Juliet smiled. "It's nice to meet you, as well."
"I'm Emmett," Em caught Juliet's eye in the rearview mirror, grinning mischievously. "The favorite brother."
"The bear," Juliet nodded. We all chatted amicably on the drive home. When we got to the house, Juliet was stunned.
I could see where she was coming from - the house was a sunny yellow three-level Victorian house with a wraparound porch, a tower with bay windows, and cute peaked roofing. It was situated in a clearing that more resembled a meadow, surrounded by forest. Behind the house was a slope that led down to the creek, and further on was a larger river and a secret waterfall. The house was awesome, but I missed Forks.
The front yard was covered with flowers. Esme's new habit - she'd taken to gardening. It was barely September, so the flowers hadn't succumbed to the chill of fall yet. I led the stunned Juliet inside the house, where Esme had conveniently just finished baking chocolate chip cookies.
"Auntie Esme, we're home!" I called, louder than necessary. She bustled from the kitchen to the right of the front door, wearing oven mitts. There was some convenient flour on her cheek.
"Hi, girls!" Esme pulled off the oven mitts, pretending to look fussed. "Good day at school?"
"It was great," I said. "Esme, this is Juliet."
"It's so nice to meet you," Juliet was awed, shaking Esme's hand. We were ushered into the kitchen to try some of Esme's cookies.
Jake and Seth arrived home, obviously not taking their time to enjoy the ride. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that their imprints were in the kitchen. Seth bounded into the kitchen, grinning.
"Hey, guys, you're home!" Seth said. I noticed he was wearing a hoodie. That was odd, Seth was always too warm for hoodies.
"Jeez, it's warm today, isn't it?" He asked casually, pulling the hoodie over his head. Of course. That sneaky little wolf boy was attempting to seduce Juliet away from Harper! His t-shirt rode up with the hoodie, having the desired effect. His toned core set Juliet's cheeks ablaze while she pretended not to look.
"Oops," Seth pulled down his t-shirt. "Pardon me! Oh, sweet, cookies!"
Jake came in a moment later, smelling the air. We polished off a good amount of cookies as the rain started to trickle down outside. It was just picking up into a downpour when I led Juliet around the house. We started in the entryway, I showed her the open-plan living room to the left of the door. To the right was the kitchen, where the back door was. Behind the living room, through a set of doors was the movie room complete with blackout curtains, a projector and tons of movies.
Across from the movie room, adjacent to the kitchen was the dining room that we never used. I always sat in the kitchen when Jake, Seth and I ate dinner or breakfast. The laundry room was next to the dining room, with a half-bathroom at the end of the little hall. I let Juliet up the staircase that stood between the movie room and the dining room. That led us down a hallway of doors - Bella's room, Edward's room, a guest room, a bathroom, Emmett and Jasper's "room" and Carlisle's office. Up another set of stairs was my room, Rose and Alice's room that they "shared", Seth's room, Jacob's room, a bathroom and a guest room. In reality, Rose would stay downstairs in Jasper and Emmett's room while Jasper stayed upstairs with Alice. Edward stayed in Bella's room and they used his room for playing music, usually.
Esme and Carlisle's room was in a more private place, down in the basement. It was really nice and homey, it even had its own living room. Up one tiny set of stairs in my hallway led to the attic, which just held boxes of books, family heirlooms and a window seat overlooking the forest. I went up there to read or be alone sometimes. If I opened the window I could hang out on the roof, but that wasn't an approved activity.
Juliet and I hung out in my room until dinner. She fit right in with the Cullen sibling banter, not noticing that they were strategically distracting her so others could hide food or put it on to Jake and Seth's plates.
After dinner, we moved to the theater room. We cosied up on the huge, pillow-like couches. Literally, we sank right into them. Seth and Jake joined us - in a perfectly planned motion, Seth wound up next to Juliet while Jake was on my other side. It was a sandwich with wolf bread and cute girl centre.
Throughout the movie, Juliet was drawn to Seth. I didn't even think she noticed herself leaning into him and promptly falling asleep on his shoulder. His eyes shone as he looked down on her nestled into him. I thought about Jake, who I was cuddled up to, and felt glad that Seth could experience the same thing.
Edward drove Juliet home around nine-thirty. He came home seeming troubled and only shared a look with Alice before insisting he was fine. I went to bed feeling excited.