Chapter 8

MPOV

Mom ran her hand through my hair for the fiftieth time that day.

"It looks fine mom, it's not as if we're going to loose." I said swatting her hand away.

"I know, but today, it's not just the judges that we're trying to impress. Show the Masens how smart you really are." She went from my hair to my tie, making sure it was tidied correctly.

"I'll do fine, just make sure they don't embarrass me, you and Jasper already know how these things work." I looked myself over in the mirror, I looked different in dress clothes, cleaner.

"I know, but Esme will really appreciate seeing you in a suit sounding more like the genius you are." My mother did another once over and went back to my hair.

"Well Esme can kiss my-" the doorbell cut me off.

"Coming Jasper!" mom shouted. She ran to the door and opened it up. Jasper wasn't the one standing there. I grimaced as Edward Masen walked through the door. He smiled alluringly at my mother before coming over to me.

"I wasn't aware that Jasper would be attending." He said loud enough so she could hear.

"Of course, Jasper's just like family, he likes to support Masen." My mom called from the bathroom. I assumed she was redoing her makeup.

"Yeah, family." I sneered. Edward just rolled his eyes at me.

"I didn't come over here to argue little boy." I almost bit him when he called me that. "I came to offer your mother a ride and wish you luck." He offered.

"We have a ride, mom loves Jasper's car. Almost as much as he likes her bedroom." I left him to ponder that, satisfied with my work.

"So this is what a science fair looks like." Edward said looking around the exposition hall.

"This is not a science fair you nimrod, it's a robotics exposition. Do me a favor and keep your mouth shut. You'll make me look bad." I snapped at him. Jasper sniggered rather loudly at the two of us.

"He's very serious when it comes to his work, it's nothing personal." My mother told Edward, trying to comfort.

"On the contrary, its very personal. If you screw this up for me Edward Masen, I swear, I will shove my foot so far up your ass-" my mother snapped her hand over my mouth.

Edward's shoulders stiffened and I'm sure, if my mom hadn't have been standing there, he would have chewed me out. That wouldn't have been pretty for anyone.

"Masen!" I turned to see a blonde girl running towards me and grimaced.

"Sylvia." I crossed me arms.

"Just came to wish you good luck, your work looks impressive as usual." Her eyes rolled over my display.
"Well of course, it's by me."

"You never change Masen, still just as arrogant. For all you know, this might be my year." She stood up a bit straighter.

"Please, I've already made a place on our mantle for my new trophy. Now, shoo." She flipped her hair and marched away.

"I swear, one day, you two are going to get married."

"Never mom, never." I pulled on my tie and walked back to my display. The full clan of assholes hadn't airbed yet so I still had some piece.

"Do you remember everything, I have your note cards in my purse." My mom said. She began looking through her bag.

"Nah, I'm good, just need to get my bearings straight." I grinned at her, then nerves were already beginning to disappear.

"You'll do great Masen." Jasper said as he ruffled my hair. I saw Edward clench his fist out of the corner of my eye. He was still mad about my comment from earlier.

"Good luck, I'm going to head over to the parents section. Remember, good posture and manners, and just good showmanship. You're the best, remember, you're the best." She hugged me tight and then adjusted her blouse; she liked to look good when I had a competition.

"Maybe you should stay; I heard one of the judges is male and single." I winked at her.

"If only it were that easy." She pulled her purse tighter and the left. I breathed in deeply. The judges were already coming my way and looking expectant.

BPOV

I took a seat next to Jasper.

"I don't understand why you always get so nervous. He's going to win." Jasper rubbed my shoulder comfortingly.

"Yes, I'm sure." Edward pushed Jasper out of his chair and sat down next to me.

"Oh my god! Why did you do that, you could have hurt him." I snapped at him.

"Jasper's a solider. He's fine." Edward shrugged.

"It still wasn't okay."

"I'm fine Bella, really. Edwards's just a jerk." Jasper moved to sit on my other side and glared at Edward.

I looked between them nervously. Why were they acting so hostile? Jasper was one of the sweetest men I knew and yet, he was glaring at Edward with just as much intensity.

"Um, can we focus on Masen, this is his big day." I reminded them.

"Of course, Edward wouldn't understand how important these kinds of things are to Masen." Jasper crossed his arms and leaned back.

Edward opened his mouth to speak but a glare from me seemed to shut him up.

"We're here. Sorry we're so late, couldn't find the entrance." Esme kissed Edward on the cheek and sat down next to him. She didn't spare Jasper or I a second glance.

"Good evening Bella, Jasper." Carlisle greeted calmly. He sat down next to his wife and looked around the room. "They really take these things seriously. Nothing seems underdone." He was in awe.

"Welcome to the world of living with and egotistical, teenage genius. It's always a lot to take in at first." Alice and Rosalie arrived soon after and sat down in our row. I wondered why they were all so interested in Masen's extracurricular activities. It wasn't as if it was any of their business. I watched as the judges walked over to Masen's table. He smiled charmingly and began a detailed explanation of his project. I still had no idea what the darned thing was, how it worked or what it was made for. Those were usually details my son kept to himself.

"He's acting so formal, like he actually knows how to act properly." Esme looked as if she were about to have a heart attack. "And he's dressed in a suit! What has gotten into him?"

"This is something that's important to him, something that makes him feel empowered. He cares about it, he loves every second of the competition." I boasted proudly.

"This is the kids element, he walks, talks, and even breathes his work." Jasper added. Esme looked at me critically, assessing my blouse and dress pants.

"You must be very proud of him." she said quietly.

"Always." I watched the judges nod and smile at Masen, clearly impressed with his handiwork. He flushed bashfully and laughed with them. Soon after, they left his display and he began walking over to us.

"What did they think?" I asked excitedly, jumping out of my seat.

"Impressed as usual, I've got this one in the bag." He smirked and sat down next to Jasper.

"Of course, we forgot who we were dealing with kiddo." Jasper said. He whispered something else to Masen and winked. Masen just nodded in response. I suspected something was up but didn't bother saying anything, boys will be boys. Edward noticed he exchange and began pouting like a child. I kept wondering what his problem was. Alice looked just as unhappy as he was. I sat back down in my seat and waited for the competition to end.

"I still can't see why you two didn't want the others to come with us, I'm sure they wanted to celebrate too." I licked my ice cream cone. Apparently, after Masen won (big shock there), both he and Jasper had lied to the Masen family saying we were going straight home. No fireworks, nor celebration. I believed it just as much as Edward's family had. However, I couldn't understand why we were sitting in Masen's favorite ice cream parlor, splurging on the treats.

"Because, who wants the stiffs around? I mean really, the air gets a lot less breathable when we're near them." Masen licked his spoon before dipping it back into his ice cream.

"Still, it wasn't right to lie to them. What if they find out, how are they going to feel?"

"Who cares? Edward can go suck a-"

"Masen!" I warned. Jasper laughed again with him. The two of them sure seemed to like taking jabs at the family.

"I thought you and Rosalie were friends." I reminded him.

"No, I'm friends with Emmett, Rosalie is just the thing he carries around with him." Jasper shrugged.

"Hey hey hey! Do you all want a family portrait?" a person dresses as an ice cream cone came over waving camera around. I couldn't correct him on the family things as he had already taken the picture. He handed it to Masen.

"Sweet, we can frame it right next to the trophy." He said ecstatically.

"Nice idea kiddo!" Jasper high-fived him. I watched the two of them carefully and for the first time, I thought I saw what Edward saw. He saw another man fulfilling his role.

"It looks good doesn't it." Masen set the trophy and the picture on the shelf above my end table.

"Yes, it looks really good." I watched him beam at the picture.

"I'm glad you won, I wish we could have done more to celebrate." I said.

"I like ice cream. It's quite delicious. And besides, getting rid of the others was celebration enough."

"You don't really mean that. You don't actually hate all of them, you like Carlisle." I said thoughtfully.

"I don't count Carlisle, he's a good man. He's not like the others, he isn't judgmental or unkind." Masen said quietly.

"Exactly meaning that all of them aren't bad." I said happily.

"I didn't say all of them were bad. I just said I don't like being around them is all. Especially Esme, she treats me like I'm something lower than the ground she walks on." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Why are you trying to make me like them? They don't treat you much better."

"I know they don't. They don't have to like me. That's not my concern. You're my concern. I just want you to know, if anything happens to me, there are some other people you can go to."

"I wouldn't want to go to anyone. I'd want to live by myself and die a short painful death." He said.

"Masen! They care about you, they would try to hang around us so much if they didn't care."

"I don't want them to care!" he shouted suddenly.

"Why wouldn't you want them to care about you?" I asked him.

"Because we're happy, you're happy. Now everything's all messed up, they've ruined everything. And they don't care about me anyway, open your eyes mom. They care about the fact that you could go after Edward for child support. That's all that matters to them, money." Masen sunk to his knees and ran a hand through his hair roughly. I hadn't noticed how badly this while thing was messing him up. He was feeling so many emotions all at one time. The one that stuck out was his hatred for Edward.