Thanks for all your support! As always, most characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.
I wake up later than I mean to to the smell scrambled eggs. Everything from yesterday comes flooding back to me at once. I hear a light knock on my door, and to my surprise, my mom walks in.
"Morning," I greet her as I get up to brush my hair.
"Your father told me," Mom says. "I never realized you felt so alone." She sits on my bed, I sit down next to her.
"Well, it's not really something anyone would want to talk to their parents about," I laugh. "What would I have even said? 'Oh, Mom, I feel like I probably shouldn't exist and I feel like I'll be alone my entire existence, just thought you should know.'"
She laughs, "Yeah I see how that would be an awkward conversation topic." I hear another light knock and turn to see my father leaning in the doorway.
"Breakfast is ready," he says, then he disappears. Mom disappears with him and I make my way downstairs, still in my pajamas.
I yawn as I take my place next to Ness at the table.
"Mornin'," I say with a bit too much enthusiasm.
"What is up with you, Lace?" Ness questions. "I've never see you so...joyous."
I smile, "Nothing, can't I just be in a good mood without you asking questions?"
She raises her eyebrows knowingly.
I sigh, "Ugh, fine. It's Alex." I say his name quietly, not much more than a whisper. But, I know she hears it because she grins at me.
My dad is oddly silent as Ness and I eat breakfast. He obviously hears me notice and chooses then to speak.
"So, I assume you'll be out all day, Lacey?" he asks.
I snort, "Like you don't already know." He chuckles and nods.
I find Alex sitting on a log at the edge of the trees.
"Why are you out here?" I ask as I sit down next to him.
"Tanya kicked me out," he answers, a slight smile on his lips.
"You're kidding, right?" I say, furious at Tanya now. I practically leap off of the bench.
He shakes his head, "Lacey, don't. It's fine."
"No, it is not fine!" I shout, stomping up to the house. Kate tries to stop me, but she won't use her ability on me, and without that she can't stop me.
I practically snarl at Tanya, "what the hell is wrong with you?" All I get is a snarl in response. "So what, he doesn't share your feelings and you kick him out?"
I feel a tug on my arm, Ness, pulling at me like a child. In that touch I hear her plead with me, but nothing can snap me out of this. Teeth bared, I move towards Tanya. She hisses at me.
"Would you like to fight for him, Tanya?" I taunt. "Is that what you want, a fight?" Her crouch is all I need in response, I leap into action.
Homebound. I caused this. What have I done. There have been bonds broken. My fault. Tanya hates me. My fault.
I hear my father sigh from the front seat. I look out the window at the trees passing, still thinking about what happened. Kate was torn, she didn't want to lose me or her sister. So, she didn't exactly pick sides, but she's still where she's always been. As for the rest... well my family went with me and her's with her.
I glance to my left to see that Ness has fallen asleep and she's leaning against Jacob. I groan inwardly as I look back out the window. Alex got stuck riding in the backseat of Emmett's jeep. But, I'm only mildly upset about that. I'm not even upset with Tanya anymore, just myself. I let it get too far. I'm one-hundred-percent the reason we had to leave. They didn't send us away or anything like that. Carlisle just thought it would be best if we left, you know, before it escalated any further.
The car remains silent as we pull back up to the big white house that we left not 48 hours earlier. I sigh, knowing that I'm the only reason we're back here. I grab my bags from the back of the Volvo and make my way to the cabin house. I walk to the room I share with Ness and sit my things down on my side. She walks in and does the same, then she turns to me.
"Stop blaming yourself, Lacey," she tries, and fails to comfort me. "None of this was your fault."
I scoff at that, "sure, Ness. Sure."
Jacob's already gone when we get back to the house. I assume he went back to the reservation to check on his mutts. Alex is there though, looking very awkward surrounded by my family. I smile slightly at that. He looks at me then, almost apologetically. I shake my head, still smiling as I walk up to him.
"Jeez, guys, give him some space," I say as I walk through my family and grab Alex's hand to pull him out. I walk him inside the big house.
We all lounge in the living room while it rains outside. Typical Forks weather I suppose. We talk amongst ourselves, every once in awhile someone will ask Alex a question, but that's not often. As I sit there in Alex's arms I slowly drift off to sleep to the soothing sounds of the rain. And I swear I hear Alex say something in my ear before I'm completely out, but I'm already too far gone to actually hear it. In those few moments though, I feel almost at peace, forgetting all the bad that had happened today.