PART TWO - CHANGES
To Marissa, with all my love. Even on your dark days, you shine.
Love until we burn up, fire
Do whatever gets you seen
Kiss me with adventure
Til I forget my name
Chills run down my back, I'mma flirt with that
Get a little closer
Get a little closer
- Cliff's Edge, Hayley Kiyoko
Chapter Nine - Sunlight
Juliet's POV
I spent Saturday night in my new bed for the first time. The bedding was obviously expensive - which I felt guilty for. But damn, it felt good to sleep under three hundred dollars. The gushing of the nearby river and the rain steadily pounding the roof lulled me into sleep.
In the morning, I spent ten minutes in front of the mirror making sure I didn't look like a zombie before heading downstairs. Everyone was at the table or milling about.
"Morning," I stretched a bit, revealing my tummy. I was wearing a grey long-sleeved shirt and black shorts. Seth's fork hit the marble countertop with a clatter. Face burning, I sat next to the laughing Nessie while Jacob slammed Seth's back.
"Morning, dear," Esme placed a bowl of chopped, fresh fruit in front of me. My stomach growled in appreciation and I dug in.
"Did you sleep well in a house full of vampires?" Nessie nudged me.
"Mmm," I said through a mouthful of banana and cherry before swallowing. "I've done it before."
"Yeah, but you didn't know," Jake teased, looking up at me. I flicked a blueberry at him.
"Wasn't it weird going to sleep knowing that nobody else was besides us?" Seth asked with a grin.
"You know, that leaves plenty of room for other activities," Jake said impishly. "Extracurriculars."
"What do you say we give up sleeping too, Jakey?" Seth wiggled his eyebrows.
"Oh, Seth!" Jake feigned a high-pitched voice.
"BOYS!" Esme scolded. "Not at the table!"
Renesmee shoved kiwi into her mouth to cover up the laugh.
"Oh, Juliet, you're up," Jasper walked into the room. "I've contacted your foster family. They're being awfully difficult about the adoption, but our lawyer is having words with them. You should be in our custody, legally, by Tuesday."
"Jasper, thank you so much!" I leapt up without thinking, wrapping my arms around him. After a slight pause, he hugged me back tightly.
"I'd watch out," he warned me when we let go. "Alice is likely to throw some sort of initiation party."
"You betcha!" Alice yelled from upstairs. Jasper just shook his head and exited the room.
"Pretty soon, you're gonna have an ID that says Juliet Cullen," Seth grinned. The four of us spent the day together, going for walks down to the creek or hanging out in Nessie's room.
"Do you want to go to the waterfall?" Nessie asked as she painted my nails black.
"The one in the forest behind the house?" I asked. The sun was shining, probably the last hot day of September. Nessie nodded, spreading the polish with extreme precision.
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Seth fretted from his perch on the bed. "The rocks can be really slippery."
"She's not a China doll," Nessie protested in my defense. I smiled at her, admiring my new nail color.
"She's right, Seth," Jake said. He put down the photo he was looking at.
"I'm down to go swimming," I said. "Do you think Alice put a swimsuit in my closet?"
"She's Alice, there's probably ten," Nessie snorted. I got up and padded barefoot down the white carpeted hallway to my room. Sure enough, there was a few swimsuits in my underwear drawer.
I chose a cute powder blue bikini top, slipped on some ice blue denim shorts and threw a white muscle tee over my swimsuit. For shoes, I just shoved my feet into a pair of white slip-on sneakers.
We met up at the bottom of the stairs and told Esme we were going to the waterfall. As we ran through the tall, now sun-dried grass, Nessie spread her arms and laughed. It felt good to fit in with the family. Being a human barely hindered me.
At the creek, the water bubbled down the smoothed stones. We tossed our shoes onto the bank and stepped in, walking upstream. The water was barely ankle deep here. The chill of the water felt so good, the slick smooth stones under my feet provided a natural massage. We walked in a line together, laughing and trading jokes, but mostly just getting to know each other. Well, getting to know me. They already knew each other.
The sun filtered through the canopy high above us, creating dappled patterns all over the grass and rocks. Eventually the stream opened up into a river. Up the river, before us, I could see a huge rock formation.
The river was too deep for me to wade in, along with Nessie. Jake and Seth put us up on their shoulders and waded up against the water. I threw my arms open wide, tossing my head back and letting the sun make patterns on my face. The skin-to-skin contact I had with Seth coursed through me like a bubbly soda.
"Here's where we start climbing," Jake raised his voice over the river. A waterfall poured in front of us. I thought we had reached our destination, but Seth pointed upwards. The tall rock formation had a piece on the side that jutted out. That formed a sort of natural pool. A smaller waterfall filtered into it from higher above. The very edge of the pool fed into a miniature river that wound across the rock formation and made the waterfall we were standing under.
"That's so cool!" I yelled over the water. Seth helped me on to the rocks and kept a hawk's watch on me as we scrambled up the slippery edges. At the top, I sat on the edge of the pool with my feet dangling down. A hole in the canopy let a puddle of sunlight turn part of the pool golden-green, while the rest was doused in cool shade.
Through a gap in the trees, I could see the house sitting on the hill over the creek. It really was beautiful and now it was my home. After a moment of reflection, I turned around to see that Seth and Jake had taken off their shirts. My eyes almost fell out of my head at Seth's tanned, toned body. He was staring at me, too, almost self-consciously. I got up and took off my shirt, leaving it on the side of the pool.
The water was cool, but the sun had heated the rocks enough that it was nice. Jake and Seth wrestled under the waterfall. Nessie grabbed my hand and we half-waded half-swam over to the pouring water. We stood under it and let the torrents of crystal clear water beat the muscles of our backs. This was better than any shower I'd ever taken.
Seth waded over and carefully, hesitantly put his hands on my waist. After a moment, I tucked myself into his torso and rested my head in the crook of his neck while the water covered us. Our hearts beat together as we stood, just silently embracing in the water. Nessie and Jake gave us some space, sitting with their feet in the water.
We all horsed around for an hour before our stomachs rumbled. It was getting close to dinner time, and the sun was starting to set. It left a chill over everything.
"Juliet's gonna get cold," Nessie pointed out. I was the only vulnerable one - damn supernatural genetics let the others remain as human furnaces.
"Here, get on my back," Seth bent down. I hopped up, clinging to him and leeching his warmth on the walk back home.
"You're just in time for dinner," Esme called as we entered the house, damp from the water. "Go get changed and come down to the kitchen!"
We went to our bedrooms, careful not to drip all over Esme's carpets. I threw on leggings and a grey hoodie. Nessie came out of her room in black shorts and an oversized "Forks High Spartans" t-shirt.
"It's the high school where my parents met," Nessie explained. "This was my dad's gym shirt. He kept it for my mom, but I started wearing it when I was physically three."
"That's so cute," I smiled sadly. It made me think about my dad. That's something I probably did when I was actually three.
At dinner, we were almost too exhausted to make conversation. Emmett and Edward collected my things from the foster house while we were at the river. My few personal effects were in a cardboard box in my bedroom, the clothes in a drawer of my wardrobe. The boys had been sent to get my stuff because my fosters were turning hostile in their correspondence with my family and Carlisle wasn't comfortable with me being near them. They didn't want me leaving - I got them government benefits and they looked good to the community with me around. Screw them.
I fell into bed that night with a heavy sigh. The day had been good - too good. In the back of my mind, I knew tomorrow would be hell. Amber's bullying would reach a new high. One thought that persisted was that Amber had asked for screenshots of me cheating on Harper, and Harper had promised to supply them.
I hadn't cheated - so what screenshots were Harper planning on sending Amber? I knew he was skilled at Photoshop… Was he planning on framing me that way? My stomach turned in knots as I tried to go to sleep. Eventually the physical tiredness took over and I slept restlessly.