Before I begin, I just wanted to apologize for taking a way long time to update. I didn't mean for to be away for this long. But I've been having mid-terms and we were in the process of moving and with Christmas it was just too chaotic and I couldn't get on the computer. So enjoy, while it lasts. And I might not update for a while. (More moving and stuff) But if I do, it'll be short-ish. Oh, and sorry for any incorrect grammar / spelling and that kind of thing. It is a tad bit late and I got up early. So I'm tired.

Chapter Four

She sighed and said, "You know what? Fine. One condition, though. I get to go with you."

It was going to be a long day.

--

We walked and talked a little bit, but Edward was really the one who did all the talking, seeing as I had no idea why he was taking me here.

Finally, after about half an hour or so, we approached the vacant lot.

"So, now that you've dragged me out here at…" I glanced at my wristwatch. "Five in the morning, you want to show me why?"

He just sighed and motioned toward a thicket, pushing it apart to reveal what looked like an outdoor butterfly garden. I gasped, unsure we were at the same spot that I thought we were at, and then started looking around a bit more. I soon came to see that this indeed was the same dirty lot that I had known it to be. Though now, the grass was thick and green, not dead and dry, as I had remembered it to be. I could see the sky through the canopy; the beauty of the whole area took my breath away, and I could tell that it was a bit. Our favorite tree was as beautiful as I could remember - which amazed me, because I had been here maybe a little over a year ago. And even more amazing was that there were many different varieties of butterflies were fluttering around the tree.

"Holy crow. Edward, what happened to this place?"

"Well, maybe a month ago, the Oregon Silverpots started turning up, and I tried to get them to just shove off. But they were stubborn, and they just wouldn't leave. I decided to leave them alone for a while, but then a week later I came back, and they had multiplied, and more species had come as well. So I decided to make their live a little bit easier, you know, planting grass and flowers, and I even bought a couple of baby trees.

Edward looked at me, and I could tell he was trying to be a bit modest. I smiled at him, and my favorite crooked grin flashed across his face. I knew he was very proud of this place, and I couldn't blame him. It was so beautiful, and just magical.

"How can they want to tear it apart? To build a stupid department store, too! I just can't stand it!"

It was the first time Rosalie had spoken since we got here; not Rosalie-ish at all. "How did you know that?" Edward asked.

"Emmett told me. And Alice told Emmett."

Edward seemed untroubled about this. I, on the other hand, was getting a little bit ticked off. "Yeah, so everyone knew about the "save the butterfly" thing but me, then?"

Edward cringed. "Bella, I wanted to tell you. I did. But you were so busy, hardly ever coming out of your house to do anything, except for school. And you just seemed really stressed and irritated all the time and I didn't want to have to add more onto your stress level, because I knew that if you knew, you would want to be out there twenty-four seven, and you would fall behind on your work. But now that school's out for the summer," Finally, I said in my head, "I figured that I could come get you to help."

I was still kind of irritated, but even so, I had to appreciate the fact that Edward could be so…so… Edward. If that makes any sense.

"Okay, so now that we're here, and we know what's going on, what do we plan on doing about it? I mean, we can't stop them from coming in here with a bull-dozer, can we?"

Edward ran his fingers through his hair, and put his hand on his hip. I fought very hard to not burst out laughing, and just managed to keep a straight face. "Well, Bella, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. There isn't anything that says that they can, or that says we can keep them out," he said, looking at nothing in particular.

"So I guess we're on our own, then."

Rosalie smiled, though it was not a happy smile, but more like she was thinking about something mischievous. "Actually, little sister, we're not."

"What? Rose, what do you mean?"

Rosalie spoke to Edward to answer my question.

"Tell me. Do you know what kind of butterfly this is?" She asked, pointing to her shoulder where a tiny blue butterfly, only about an inch long, sat. "No? Well, this is a Smith's Blue."

Smith's Blue… Smith's Blue…Where had I heard that before?

"What does the butterfly have to do with it?"

Then I remembered; fourth hour. We were talking a bit about endangered species and giving reports on them, and Angela Weber had given one on the Smith's Blue. "It has everything to do with it! Edward, the Blue is on the Endangered Species list!"

"Exactly. Along with many others that I see here."

"So they aren't allowed to do anything to the place! Oh my Carlisle… We have to get a lawyer. And for a lawyer, we need money, and then we can go to court, and then we can stop them from doing anything!! Oh, this rocks!"

"Yes, Bella, but let's not count our chicks. We, as you said, need money. But we can't get money unless we either ask our parents, or get a job. Now, as we are only 14, we can't. So no income there, unless you can count a bit of money for babysitting and odd jobs, then there isn't anything we can do to earn some money."

"I'll pitch in, and Maybe Emmett as well. And Mom and Dad and Carlisle and Esme. And we could do an awareness project, or something. And we all know bake sales are fun to do."

"Thanks, Rose," he added with a grin. "Anyway, we need to figure out what we can do to put this off as long as we possibly can. Any Ideas?"

I racked my brains for an idea. "What about going on a food protest?"

"Bells, what are they going to care if we're starving ourselves? It's a good idea, but I don't think they'll pay us any attention." Rosalie said.

"Well, yeah, you're right, I guess. We could also do like a sitting protest. Like where you cuff yourself to a building or a tree or something and swallow the key and they can't slam the building down because you're Cuffed to it, or something."

Edward put his hand on his chin, and after a while, said, "That is a really good idea."

"Of course it is, it was mine."

Edward chuckled and continued. "That is a good idea, but I don't think that we'll have to do that just yet. It is still a bit early for something like that, I think. After all, we have to wait for the bull dozer's to get here before we have to do that."

I sat down on the grass and then put my hands on my chin and started to think.

"I think we need to buy a big, fat, notebook and record all of this stuff so we don't forget."

Edward and Rosalie nodded.

"And where are Jasper and Emmett and Alice?"

"Right here!"

My head popped up, and swiveled around to find them coming into the meadow. I hopped up, and then went to Alice. "So like what have you guys been doing?"

"We were making T-shirts, to protest and such," she reached into her duffel bag and pulled out a white Tee that had an outline of a cartoonish tree on the front of it, and at the bottom it said…

"T R E E T A R I A N "

And passed it to me. She pulled out many others like this and handed them out to the entire group. I looked at mine, and I suppose it had just dried, because the fabric paint was a little bit soft (but not so much that it would ruin the shirt.) So I pulled mine on over my hoodie. "Cute, Alice!"

"Cute is not the point. The point is to get the point across to the others, little sister."

"Yeah, and it'll catch the attention of the people, therefore getting the point across, because it is cute. And you're older by two minuets, Jazz!"

"Same difference."

"So not. Oh, and Mom called. I told her we were all hanging out together, and she asked where you were, because I guess she called you and you didn't answer, and she said to call her if we need cash or a ride or something."

"Mom called?" Whoops. I pulled out my phone, and there it was – one missed call. I must have had it on silent.

"Yeah, mom called. Don't change the subject. I'm older and wiser and more mature and all that."

Edward coughed a little bit, and then when Jasper and I kept bickering, he said, "MOVING RIGHT ALONG. Jazz, Alice, and Emmett. Rosalie has unearthed a little bit of important information. There are a couple species of butterflies in here that are on the Endangered / Threatened list. So, they shouldn't be able to build here."

For a fraction of a second, Alice had a look on her face that made me think that she hadn't made up her mind as to whether or not she wanted the Department Store to be built. But then she started jumping up and down, and said, "So awesome! So like, since they can't build here, we can just have fun again, right?"

Emmett spoke up for the first time. "Alice, I really don't think that if we go up to them and say, 'Hey, there are endangered butterflies on your lot, so can you pick a different one to build on please?' that they'll just agree to it. I'll be darned if they don't tell us to butt out of their business like good little boys and girls."

Rosalie scoffed. "Right. So we need to raise awareness. Alice, these are the cutest shirts ever-" Jasper muttered something that sounded an awful lot like girls " – so do you think you would be able to make up some more, with a story on the back about how they can't build here? In a nice green, maybe? Or a different style, with a butterfly on it?"

Alice was thinking, probably about design elements, and then nodded. "But I'm going to need someone to write the awareness message." Jasper immediately said, "I'll do it, and Edward can help."

"What about a couple of sponsors?" I asked. It would help a lot if we could get the word on the street.

"Dad can help from the hospital, maybe Charlie for the Station. And if we need to, we can go around to the Thriftway and the Old person's house or whatever it's called," Emmett said.

"Yeah, that would be so cool!"

"Awsome!"

"Let's do this thing!"

"Okay guys! We've gone really far today. Let's just relax now, have a little bit of fun!" Edward exclaimed, and then grabbed the duffel bag Alice had brought. He pulled out two six-packs of water bottles from the bag and then dumped a huge pile of various water flavoring, food, snacks and candy onto a flat rock.

What a day this has been. I woke up to Edward, tapping on my window, and now I'm eating lunch while planning on saving a million butterflies and a huge tree. Who knew?

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Oh, if you're wondering… I got "Treetarian" from Vegetarian. It's a totally made up word, and it means "SAVE THE TREES." Haha.