"Edward is coming home tomorrow," Alice said causally. I nearly dropped the pile of clothes she had me carrying.
Nearly a week had passed since Edward had taken off to Alaska, not much had really changed in those few days, aside from Rosalie and I finally getting the roof off the Mustang.
We had been arguing on the best course of action to remove the roof safely without damaging the rest of the car, of course Emmett suggested just tearing it off, we were ignoring him on that suggestion, but I went for the less destructive method and removed it with the ascedalyne torch, though Rosalie's suggestion of metal cutters would've worked too, but I wanted to play with the torch.
Today however, there was no working on the car, I had been persuaded into going shopping with Alice and Rosalie; I'm still not quite sure how they got me to agree to go, a guy going clothes shopping with his sisters is not the image I want to portray, but it was either go with them or face the wrath of Jasper and Emmett.
As their husbands I think THEY should be the ones playing pack mule, but both of them were hunting again Jasper has been really struggling lately and to be on the safe side, went hunting pretty much every couple of days.
Of course, there are no malls in Forks, the closest one with a decent selection is in Seattle, but even that one isn't elaborate enough to hold Alice and Rosalie's fashion attention, noooo, we actually drove to Minnesota to the Mall of America, the next best thing opposed to actually going to Paris for the weekend (which we have done by the way), of course waiting for a snowy, completely sunless day, predicted by Alice.
I have to admit, I was very open to the idea, the prospect of checking out the multiple video game and movie stores contained in the largest mall in the USA was beyond tempting and something I could not say no to, so I was actually excited about the trip, up until the clothing store.
"Is he all right?" I asked Alice, opening my eyes wide trying to give her my own version of a puppy dog look. "I mean, do you think he's all right?" Alice nodded and pretty much floated over to a full length mirror, she picked up some clothes on a hanger and laid them gently on the growing pile, which was nearly over my head by this point. "Alice, Rose I think you guys have enough clothes!"
Both girls exchanged a sympathetic look and began to laugh at that comment. Groaning, I rolled my eyes,
"Silly Chris. I'm surprised you haven't learned yet." Rosalie called between laughs. She's right though, I should know better by now, just like I should've expected the image that popped into my head, me standing in the teen department, with Rosalie and Alice pulling out designer clothes for boys, preparing to make me try them on.
This was not a prediction it's what I had been forced to endure in the past and the image was coming back to haunt me. But I could profile on my sisters that it was going to happen again.
"Oh man. No, no, no come on!" I exclaimed "you guys said I was coming to help you carry the clothes. You never said anything about me trying on clothes!"
"We promised Esme that we'd bring you home with new clothes!" Rosalie retorted "and to make sure you wear them, she's throwing out any and all clothes that have holes in them!"
I groaned, but I knew Esme wouldn't do that to me, at least not without checking with me first on which ones were ok to go.
I'm not materialistic, but I do have some favorite shirts and jeans in my closet that I would hate to lose before their time, when you don't have to worry about outgrowing clothes, I see nothing wrong with wearing clothes into the ground so to speak.
Alice looked over at me and shrugged gleefully, just by the look on my face she knew what I had just seen.
"It will be fun Christian!"
"Fun for who… exactly?"
"Chris, all of your clothes are either full of holes, ripped, or were out of style ten years ago, you need some variety and style in your life, especially if you would like to continue to be called my brother!" Rosalie finished.
"There is nothing wrong with my style! You guys are just Fashion Nazis" I huffed, "and 'sides I heard ripped jeans are coming back!" I paused and grinned, "and if we lived in Vatican City my clothes would be completely in style! And welcomed by all, 'pecially the Pope."
Alice looked at me laughing a bit, she knew what was coming, I could see it on her face.
"How do you figure that?" Rosalie asked a hint of caution in her tone.
"You said it yourself, they're holy!" I finished.
I heard Rosalie groan at that, well 'least Alice had found it funny, so I shrugged my reply. I leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, leaning against the wall, completely out of boredom.
"Do not sit on that floor with my clothes Chris!" Rosalie exclaimed from inside the dressing room, "get up now!"
Quickly I stood up and leaned against the wall, she couldn't even see me; she was just making an educated guess that's what I was doing.
Twenty minutes later, my prediction came true, my arms were free of dresses and designer clothes, at least for women and teen girls, that group of 900-2,000 some-odd dollar between my sisters, purchases were in Rosalie's BMW, and believe me…anything under 5,000 is pretty cheap by Alice and Rosalie shopping standards.
Now my arms held shirts and jeans, none with a single rip or hole in sight.
"Rose what do you think of this top on him?"
I sighed, being the youngest really sucks sometimes, especially when you have two older sisters who love clothes and see you as their own personal mannequin, just because they know they can get away with it.
"Not the blue…the black, it will really bring out his eyes," Rosalie answered. She walked over to me and held up a black shirt against me, "I think this one is will do, I just hope we can find a time for him to wear them…where he doesn't have a choice, if we force him to wear them to school, he just change when he gets out of our sight." Before I knew what was happening Rosalie took the small pile out of my arms and pushed me towards the dressing room. "Go try these on Chris" she gave me a stern look "you have thirty seconds! And I am being generous with thirty."
Yeah, locking myself in the dressing room doesn't work, I figured that out years ago. After I did that, one of them would actually stay in the dressing room with me to make sure I tried the clothes on, I am so glad we're over that and I have no desire to start it up again, at least they trust me enough to let me in go in by myself.
Inside the dressing room, I threw on the jeans, not wrangler or some other cheapie brand of jeans, oh no I was pulling on a pair of Ralph Lauren something or others, I glanced at the price tag of the jeans alone, knowing I was probably going to regret looking… $200.
"Are you guys bloody insane?" I could hear my accent returning quickly. On top of not being materialistic, I'm pretty money conscious. Even though money is not an issue in our family, Carlisle, Edward, and I keep tabs on our spending very meticulously. Unlike my sisters who at this point I was convinced had lost whatever had remained of their sanity. "We cannot spend that much money on a bloody pair of trousers!"
"10 seconds Chris!" was Rosalie's answer
"Rose, these things cost more than the Mustang did, they are not worth i-"
"5!" she paused and began counting down "4, 3, 2…"
Before she could hit one I pulled on the black shirt and pushed open the door. Alice was at my side instantly, fixing the collar and checking how the shirt looked on me.
"Un-tucked or tucked?" she asked Rose, who stood nearby studying me.
"Un-tucked," Was her reply "I think that looks great," she looked me over "I think new shoes are a good idea too,"
I raised my eyebrow
"New shoes?" I folded my arms across my chest "now, wait just a minute, there is nothing wrong with my sneakers!" Rose glared at me as she reached into the dressing room and pulled out my sneakers and held them up like they were a decaying animal. I shrugged "you said I lack style, those are in style," I reminded her pointing at the Vans label sprawled across the side of the sneakers. "Check 'em out, it's what most kids are wearing nowadays."
Rosalie made a face that told me vans were in style for skateboarders, but the real style was a more expensive brand. I just rolled my eyes, it's always better to pick my battles when it comes to fashion and my sisters.
"I saw a pair of Pumas downstairs; I think we should go there next." Rose said to Alice as if I hadn't spoken.
Alice nodded quickly "Oh, the white ones with the red stripe?"
"Do you think they have his size?"
"Yes of course!" Alice replied with certainty.
"Those will be so cute on him;" Rose exclaimed grabbing more shirts and jeans from the pile her and Alice had accumulated.
I narrowed my eyes at the phrase 'cute on him' those three words always make me nervous, especially in the same sentence, especially when my sisters say them.
"Cute? Ok, the last thing I want is a cute persona!" I grumbled.
But both girls continued as if I wasn't even there, chatting about matching outfits on me.
I sighed and returned to dressing room, preparing for the next set of clothes to try on, knowing that the only reason this happens to me is because the two of them struggle to get Jasper and Emmett to agree to do something like this.
I try to fight them, but being the youngest, again you have to pick your battles and clothing shopping at the mall, is one of those battles you just wave the white flag.
If I give into this now, I don't get dragged to Paris for Fashion week and therefore shoved into the latest trends for teens.
Two hours and $1,000 later, we left the clothing store and made our way to MY idea of a good shopping day Best Buy.
Somehow we completely bypassed the shoe store, but if I know my sisters, we'd be there before the day was through and I'd be forced into some not made for the outdoors, going to get ruined in ninety seconds, way to bloody expensive "in style" sneakers.
Once in the store, we separated.
I personally made a beeline for the movies, but not before watching Rosalie head towards the car stereos for the 'stang and Alice towards the computers. We had promised each other to keep the Mustang as original as possible, but I was allowing the radio to be new as long as it looked period. I kept an eye on my sisters then bolted (at human speed) to the movies.
I'm kinda grounded from horror movies at the moment, per say Carlisle. Somehow Alice didn't see my reason for coming to the store.
Unlike my shop-alcoholic find the most stylish probably most expensive item in the store, sisters, I scope out deals and sales before hand and find the best price for items I want, like movies.
According to the Best Buy website, they were running a five dollar movie bin sale, certain titles tossed into a Wal-Mart like bargain bin all for five dollars, my kind of sale.
They had a list of possible titles and among those were House on Haunted Hill (the newer version) and Sleepy Hallow, two excellent movies. Also on that list was a title I didn't recognize, but found myself curious by the cover, entitled Lost Boys.
I researched it on the web and discovered it was a vampire flick from the eighties so I'm not entirely sure how I missed it back then. The plot itself, though it was somewhat ridicules sounded like it could be a good movie and I found myself wanting to watch it, especially after I saw the trailer. I love seeing how Hollywood portrays us and laughing at how ridicules it usually is.
I found the bin of movies sitting just outside the horror section…damn talk about enticing me.
I kept an eye out for my sisters and began my search; Rosalie would just roll her eyes in annoyance and probably go into the 'I'm not speaking to Chris because of the horrible movies he insists on watching' motif.
Alice however, would enforce Carlisle's rule, not to mention tell our father that grounding me had no effect on my determination to watch horror movies and stronger steps may need to be taken, like completely removing all movies from my life for an undetermined torturous length of time.
Within seconds of shifting through the overflowing bin, I found House On Haunted Hill, seconds later I found Sleepy Hallow, but Lost Boys was pretty elusive and it took nearly climbing into the bin to find it.
Turns out it was actually at the bottom of the bin, figures, but on the positive side I found a number of other movies: Signs, Men in Black, History of the World, the original Halloween, Stephan King's It and Christine (picked that one with Rosalie in mind and with the thought that MAYBE I'd get her to watch it with me, if only to prove to her that not all the movies I watch are mockeries of our kind and that there are scary things in the movies to contend with, such as a overly-jealous demonically possessed car out to kill all that gets in its way of a romance 'tween it and its driver).
Still keeping an eye on the girls, I quickly slipped my pile into a basket and even more quickly paid for them.
I had the movies paid for, in the car and was back in the store before either of them even knew I was gone.
Having my own credit card is a definite plus, saves me the effort of mooching money and getting caught.
I wandered back to the movies and continued my browsing, now that I had found the three movies I came in to get (and then some).
Luckily for me, the horror section and the action flicks are right next to each other in this Best Buy, so I had an excuse to be near the horror movies without arousing suspicion.
As I was scanning the different titles, one in the action section did catch my attention, a film about the British navy during the Napoleonic wars; Master and Commander: Far side of the world. It looked really interesting so I couldn't help, but add it to the pile…after all, that's my Nation's history.
By the time Rosalie came over to check on me, I had five new movies on top of the eleven already bought and in the car. I'm not one for shopping sprees, but I love movies and video games, and rarely allow myself a splurge, it being a once a year occurrence, rarely more than that, unless I find a great deal on movies or video games.
Speaking of the video games, that thought crept into my head as I finally left the movies and made my way two aisles over where the video games were situated.
Not to brag, but we have a pretty impressive game collection, supported by a few gaming consuls. But those systems are kept in the TV room so everyone has access to them (Emmett, Jasper, Edward, and myself mainly), so the gaming section Rosalie found me in was the computer games.
I scanned the titles, searching for one to catch my eye that I did not already have, after only a few seconds of scanning, one did; Age of Empire Age of Kings and Conquers special edition.
"What did you find Chris?" Rosalie asked coming up behind me,
"New computer game," I replied showing her the case, my eyes returning to the titles.
"You do realize you're a nerd, right?" was her reply. I made a face before a grin slid across my face. "What?"
"That radio you were looking at?" My grin widened "some guy just grabbed the last two and is heading towards the registers…quickly." I added.
Rosalie knows better than to doubt Alice and I. She quickly looked over at the car stereos, her sharp eyes scanning the crowd, I turned to watch, fully amused at what was about to occur.
A middle aged guy had the two boxes in hand and was making his way towards the registers, just as I had profiled.
"Damnit!" Rosalie exclaimed 'those were perfect!" She let out a low growl, that only I could hear.
"Rose,' I started, trying to reassure her "the 'stang isn't remotely ready for a radio, heck it's barely ready for tires. I don't think a radio is priority, plus I thought we decided on going old style? Y'know keep it completely retrofitted?"
Her expression softened.
"I know, but I wanted one of those for my car. I was coming over to see if you could look it over and we could install it when we got home." She explained.
I rolled my eyes again and sighed.
"Be right back." I told her, handing over my pile of movies and my new computer game. I reached into my jacket and pulled out my glasses. I couldn't believe I was doing this, but I know if the role had been reversed, Rosalie would do this for me in a second, but she was going to owe me BIG time.
The guy was reading the box intently, so much so that nearly took out a heard of people gawking at the new plasmas.
He met up with a woman and was showing her the radios, she rolled her eyes and was shaking her head, good that could work in my favor. He was telling her in great detail about them when I finally reached them, having walked at normal human speed.
"Uh, excuse me sir?"
The couple turned to face me and I could see the automatic pity in their faces…poor nearly blind kid said their expressions.
When people look at my eyes through the glasses, my eyes appear to be bigger and therefore the pale blue is more prominent. I can say what I want about the stupid things, but they do come in handy every once in a while.
"Yeah," was the guys reply, he looked impatient and even a little annoyed at being stopped by some random kid.
"Sir," I said trying to be as polite as possible "those radios, well my sister and I were looking at them for our father for his birthday. We went to find our other sister so she could look too, when we came back after finding her, you were walking away with them. I know this is rather strange coming from a complete stranger, but could I please have one of them. His birthday is tomorrow and we pooled all our money together to buy that particular radio."
At first the couple was taken aback, the guy's face went from annoyed, to confused, and maybe even a little surprised at the random request.
Most humans are more preoccupied with us personally then to the fact we could be lying, it's one of our abilities to attract our prey.
But I could see the sympathy welling up in the woman's eyes. Edward is really good at using our charm and attraction to it's fullest, so I tried to do the same and it worked, with the woman that is.
"Ray," she finally said "do you really need both radios? What are you going to do with two of them?"
"Christmas present for Joe," he replied, she rolled her eyes again, this time I could see she was annoyed, not at me, but at her husband.
"It's January. Christmas is twelve months away!" She gently took one of the radios from his hand and handed it to me. "I hope your father has a very happy birthday." Ah man, guilt "it's nice to see such an honest young man doing something nice for others…Boy Scouts?"
Boy Scouts! Man this woman's good…I'm a vampire damn it, being affected by or accepting guilt is NOT something that should happen, oi.
I looked the box over then back at Rosalie and Alice who had just joined her. Argh…I'd just run into another store, find the stupid thing, and buy it for Rosalie. This lady was as good as Esme.
"I appreciate that ma'am, but now that I'm looking closer, this is a different model then the one we actually came in to get. I am so sorry I bothered you." Now I really laid on the charm, hoping that I would just be a memory of a really polite kid who made a mistake.
"Are you sure?" the woman asked. Her husband looked like a kid who was just told school was closed indefinitely, but she looked very skeptical.
Yes," I replied, changing the tone of my voice. Her look also changed, I was convincing her, either that or the charming was working, its times like this, this and no other, that I wish I could read minds, reading body language can only take a person so far. "Thank you very much, have a good day." I finished and handed the radio back to the husband, before rejoining my sisters, where Rosalie looked confused and Alice was smiling.
"What was that all about?" Rosalie asked as soon as I was within hissing distance.
Alice seemed to know, she reached over and hugged my shoulders, her own way of letting me know that not only had see seen what was about to happen, but she also was proud of my decision.
"Rose," I started, taking back my movies and game "there's a Radio Shack on the third floor that has the same radio. It's a little more money then here, but I'll run up and get it."
Rosalie looked me over with a knowing gleam in her eyes.
"She guilted you didn't she?" she finally replied, grinning sympathetically. When I didn't answer, my face alone confirmed her suspicions "Christian Cullen, guilt boy," I glared at her and she softened her grin before hugging me tight. "Thank you for trying," was all she would say.
I looked over at Alice, wondering what was on her mind and why I suddenly had a twinge of something coming that I was not going to want to hear. She had that look in her eyes.
"You are a good brother," was all she said at first…ok that couldn't be the meaning of the twinge had to be something el- "and I really hope you are not growing attached to some of those movies you just bought and I do you hope you saved you're receipt."
Ok, that would be it…
"Oh come on Alice, you're not gonna tell Carlisle are you? I promise I wont bother you guys with the movies at all you'll never know when I'm watching them!"
"That's why you wanted to come here?" Rosalie exclaimed, her look of annoyance quickly spreading across her face, a look I knew all to well. "Chris you are obsessed!"
"Addicted," I corrected dryly, using Carlisle's word for my interest in horror movies, when he grounded me.
"Whatever you want to call it, isn't the truth bad enough without bringing movies into the scenario?"
I put my head down, Carlisle has never said it, but I know what Rosalie was implying, and I am surprised that Carlisle never brought it up, I think he hoped that I would reach the conclusion on my own. Just how much my movies affected Rosalie and the rest of the family, just not as much as her.
All of us have accepted our new lives, in stride of course…except for Emmett who apparently was on board with the idea immediately.
Rosalie on the other hand is the only one in the family who never fully accepted, in fact from what Edward's told me, she resented Carlisle for a long time for changing her.
By the time I joined the picture, she had forgiven him, but every now and then, her resentment resurfaces and lashes out at whoever is in the vicinity, this was one of those times.
I think the thought of me being so accepting of what I am to the point that I enjoy movies that technically mock us and almost always end with the vampire being staked, burnt to a crisp, completely dusted or otherwise obliterated.
Well it kind of upsets her, and believe me I do not ignore how much it upsets her, nor do I do it on purpose, and I certainly do not enjoy the movies because we are portrayed as an evil monster that deserves death.
I cant help it, I like the old movies, especially old monster movies. I saw Noseratru with my dad when I was seven years old; going to the cinemas back then was a rare treat, especially with my father. It was the first movie I ever saw and left a strong imprint on me even all these years later.
But the other reason I can't help, it is a reason only Edward, Carlisle and Esme know, and Edward has been sworn to absolute secrecy, not that he would tell anyways.
Watching all these monster movies, especially the vampire ones, is MY way of coming to a certain level of acceptance in what I am, each of us have our own way of coping and that's mine.
I see characters like Dracula and know that though most of what is believed about us thanks to Hollywood is completely fictitious, the thought that my family and the Denali clan are the anomalies of our kind and that the rest of our kind is like Dracula (at least in the diet and solitude aspects of it) well it makes me feel a little less guilty when I go out and take down a deer to drain it of its blood.
Rosalie was still looking down at me and the look on her face told me that if she was a cartoon, steam would be coming out of her ears and I really hoped this wasn't going to be a repeat of the Dracula incident.
Back about two years ago, the original Dracula with Bella Lugosi was rereleased on a special edition DVD, uncut, never before scenes that were removed from it's original release because it was considered to realistic for the time, extended scenes that were originally cut because of time constraints, background info on the story and the characters, background info on Bram Stroker and his influences for writing Dracula, an interactive CD-ROM special for the internet, and my main reason for spending the forty bucks on it, a special interview with the man himself Bella Lugosi.
I was sitting in my room, contently watching the movie, I had thought I had the house to myself.
Carlisle was at the hospital, Esme was out on a restoring job, Rosalie, Edward, and Emmett had cut school to look at a new car for Rosalie (a trip I decided not to go on because of the movie) and Jasper and Alice were off hunting.
However, I wasn't completely alone, because Rosalie burst into my room, all excited about the BMW and fully prepared to drag me down to the garage to see it and help her remove the governor (a job no one else in the family can or will do).
So, there's nothing wrong with that scenario right? Wrong…I didn't mention WHEN in the course of the movie she came bursting into my room.
Lets just say it involves a certain scene when a certain female character is bitten by the Count, not the best time for anyone to walk in on, especially not Rosalie.
She threw a literal fit screaming and carrying on, so much to the point where I actually jumped out my window and made a dash for the mountains out of complete fear of my sister. I stayed out there for a good few hours, before Edward hunted me down to get my side of the story.
That was honestly the FIRST time I was afraid of Rosalie and even of Emmett, wondering how'd he respond to my upsetting her. But Emmett was Emmett and his main concern was calming Rosalie down and not caring what had upset her.
Unbelievably, Carlisle wasn't angry with me, I mean technically I didn't do anything wrong, but I was sure he'd at least make me apologize to Rosalie, but he didn't.
To be perfectly honest though, I think I'd rather have had him mad at me, because I truly did feel bad about upsetting Rosalie, knowing how she truly feels about what we are.
I was so guilt ridden, that I spent the rest of the night in the garage, completely blowing off Jasper and our video game rematch. I spent the whole night locating and carefully removing the governor on the new Beemer.
Not an easy task by any means, the newer and more high tech cars get, the harder it is to not only locate the stupid thing, but also remove it safely.
Most governors are chips in the computer, if your not careful you can ruin the entire system, permanently.
Hence why no one else in the family will do this, I've got the most confidence in the task and knock on wood I haven't killed a car yet, but it is a painstaking task.
I'd compare it to a game of reality operation, y'know that game with the guy laying on the table and with a pair of tweezers you've gotta remove these ridiculous items from his body.
Like butterflies in his stomach, funny bone, moronic puns like that, but if you touch the sides the game yells at you. Without the sound effect of the buzzing, removing the governor is the same way, one wrong move and buzz…game over.
The BMW was no exception to this, each car manufacture puts the governors in its own specific place, so the governor in the Mercedes was installed in a different spot than on the Aston or the Volvo or even the Beemer. Actually now that I'm thinking of it, I don't even think the Aston HAD a governor
Luckily, I've got a computer out in the garage that is linked to all the brands of cars we own and more, it gives me detailed specifications on each car so I know exactly what I can poke around and what could potentially cause a problem.
It comes in handy when any of the cars need maintenance, 'stead of paying some mechanic in Forks to repair the cars and overcharge by hundreds of thousands of dollars, Rosalie and I simply bring up the cars schematics and bingo we can fix the car ourselves and even order parts we need directly from the dealerships and manufacturers.
We're technically a mechanic shop and have all the equipment that one would find in such a shop. Rose and I each even have a license as mechanics, which we renew and re-qualify for every couple of years to stay current.
The computer has both a touch screen and can be voice operated, it brings up 3-D images of the cars and I can simply touch the screen to zoom in or rotate the image to the exact spot I need. (like the computers in the house its reprogrammed to react to our much lower body temperatures).
With Emmett's jeep, he had me hunting around for the stupid governor for nearly ten hours, before he conveniently remembered that his jeep didn't HAVE a governor…I could've killed him on the spot.
But now, it looked like it was going to be a repeat of the Dracula movie, Rose looked ready to KILL and Alice was the only reason she hadn't.
"Rose…I'm sorry," I finally said, my voice so low that humans around us wouldn't hear. "I cant help it. I like them." Rosalie huffed her annoyance and I winced, as I shrugged, part of the reason I like them is because they remind just how easily I could become a blood sucking monster attacking humans a random, but they also remind me that I have a choice and that's part of the appeal as well (and seriously…I do enjoy laughing at the stupidity of Hollywood in its portrayal of us).
Rosalie sighed her response to my apology. I could tell by the look in her eyes, she'd forgive me by the time we got home, but for now, I was better off keeping quiet.
"I'm going over to Borders," she stated monotone. Sure she was mad now, but a few new books in her hands and she'd calm down.
"Chris and I will run up to Radio Shack for the radio." Alice replied, her hand on my shoulder, as if she was keeping me from wandering back to the movies. "Then we'll meet you at the café, in a half hour."
"Café? Er….why?" I asked before thinking.
Rosalie shot a glare my way.
"Think about it Christian…" she hissed. Oh yeah…she was pissed, she only calls me Christian when she's mad and in the mindset to not speak to me. "It's the only place in that store you won't get distracted for hours on end." Now she turned to Alice, her expression softer, but I could still hear the sharp tone in her voice. "Do not let him out of your sight Alice; I don't want any more of that filth in my car."
"Hey," I hissed back. "For one thing, my movies are not filth and for another, there are plenty of places in a bookstore that I wouldn't be caught dead in, so I…"
The last sentence came out 'fore I even thought about it and I couldn't help but chuckle. I had the uncontrollable urge to laugh and despite the murderous glares coming my way from Rosalie the urge was hard to control and little laughs found their way.
Normally a sentence like that wouldn't seem funny to me. But, in this situation, just the fact it came out so randomly, well, I couldn't help it.
Finally after a few seconds of my laughter, Rosalie threw her hands up and stormed off, and the tiny window of forgiveness I may have had closed, so she'd forgive me by tonight, maybe, if I was lucky.
"That was probably the dumbest thing you could have possibly said," Alice noted sympathetically as we headed to Radio Shack.
"Yeah," I said sighing "I know."
Actually I was kind of glad Rosalie wanted to take a detour to the bookstore, for one thing, I enjoy reading and another…I kinda needed a book for class.
I'm in the only advanced English class offered in the middle school. History may be one of my favorite subjects, but English is my strongest, I mean I have a bachelors degree in English that I received back in the middle 50s.
Not to mention, my teacher is from Glasgow, which means we get along great. She is probably one of the first teachers in a long time that I felt was relatable, we're constantly discussing Great Britain and Scotland and what we miss or do not miss, I'm just careful to keep my answers vague without appearing so.
I haven't been back to the UK since Carlisle and I went just about fifty some-odd years ago so parts of the Great Britain she tells me about (trying to get me to recall actually) is different from the Great Britain I remember or ever saw personally for that matter, but luckily, unlike the US, change comes to my homeland slowly and there are very few differentials in our memories.
But it's important to remember that the Great Britain of my childhood was in the midst of a war and the city I called home at the time was a skeleton of itself, ridden from night after night of bombing and the Great Britain I went home to visit was still recovering from the war, but had made great progress, so much so that only someone who had experienced the Blitz, left during it and returned eight years later would be able to see the significant improvement.
'Sides, when those in Forks ask questions about my origin, Carlisle tells them I was six years old when he and Esme took custody of me after my parents were killed in a car accident, where I was the only survivor, and therefore do not have many memories of England. Mrs. Brown was told the same thing at Parent Teacher conferences when she asked Carlisle and Esme how I came to the US and why my memory is so scattered.
Unfortunately, being around her has reawakened my accent slightly, earning me more odd looks from my classmates.
But that's the ONLY downside. Mrs. Brown makes each boring day at Forks Junior High, bearable.
The thing I love about her class is that Mrs. Brown factors in typical material for an advanced eighth grade English class, but she throws in her own little twist to the lesson plan; stories and poems from or directly related to the British Isle.
Last week we finished up our coverage of Shakespeare with Macbeth and King Henry the Eighth, this week we're to start reading Angela's Ashes, a memoir written by Frank McCourt about his childhood in Limerick Ireland back in the middle 30s.
Since I grew up at about the same time, and Frank McCourt is only four years younger than I am, I was really looking forward to reading that particular book.
The way she runs her class is certain books we need to provide ourselves, two actually, one before winter break around late October early November and the other in January.
The Shakespeare material of course was readily available from the high school, and most of her other materials, all senior level English material is as well.
But Angela's Ashes would be a bit of a challenge. The main library in Forks only has one copy of it, the middle school library has a copy and so does the high school, so on Thursday she gave us the weekend to get our own copies, whether it be from one of the three places or our own copy.
I figured just going to the bookstore would be safer than fighting my seven classmates for one of the three books.
Anyways, my guilt over upsetting Rosalie quickly moved to the back of my mind the prospect of a bookstore invasion it was still there as a reminder but only vaguely so.
However, going to the bookstore was the good news, Alice making sure I didn't wander off, that would be the bad news.
She knew I had to get the book so she followed me over to the Irish History section without a word, and as I hovered over the British history then maneuvered to the World War Two section, she still didn't say a word, just patted my shoulder gently and to my surprise, left me to wander over to the poetry section, a section within full eyesight of the history section, ok so I wasn't completely unguarded. I looked over at Alice and wandered over to her,
"All set?" she asked "or did you want to go over to the to the car section," I grinned and nodded, "can I trust you to go over there by yourself? Get what you need and come find me?"
I could see her motives, Alice was heading over to the art section. Since we cannot get to the mall every week, Alice and Rosalie have become very talented fashion designers, Alice especially. She uses her specially programmed computer at home to design clothes for Rosalie, Esme, and herself.
"I figured I'd run over there and buy a peace offering for Rosalie."
"You mean beside the radio?"
"Yes," she leaned over and kissed the top of my head
"like I said you are a good brother to us," she whapped the top of my head gently "you just need to use this more often."
I nodded and headed a few aisle over, hoping that I could find something that would smooth things over with Rosalie. ****
The ride home took a shorter time than going to the mall. Only 'cause Rosalie didn't let the speedometer drop below 180.
When we got home, after we stored our stuff, Rosalie stormed out to the garage. At first I wasn't sure if it would be safe to follow her, she hadn't even mentioned the radio yet. But I knew I had to get it over with.
I picked up the wrapped package and the radio box and slowly walked out to the garage, Rosalie was at the computer pulling up the chaise of the 'stang.
"What do you want Christian?" she said, not even bothering to look up. My sharp eyes scanned the screen, taking in what Rosalie was looking at; she had the driveshaft, one of the only rust free parts of the car, laid out on the work table.
"I came to apol…to see if you wanted some help installing your radio?" I could see the wheels turning in her head, if Emmett does not hold grudges, Rosalie DOES.
I laid the radio box on the table and then laid the wrapped book on the table next to it. She eyed both parcels, but I could see her eyes hovering on the wrapped one.
"What's that?"
"Peace offering?" I suggested, I nudged it gently with my pointer finger, sliding it across the bench. She shot a look and picked it up "a Chris was an idiot and should learn to think 'fore he speaks,' peace offering' another look, before she carefully unwrapped the gift, I watched her mouth, not her eyes, the corners of her mouth twitched…she was fighting a smile. "I got it to show you something, something that's gonna make you happy." I gently took the book and laid it on the table. Flipping through the pages I quickly found what I was looking for.
A chapter dedicated to the 1969 Boss 429 Mustang, including a photo of a red convertible. I had been wrong on my first assumption of the picture, that wasn't a soft top that was nearly rotted through, that was the hard top that was completely rotted through. It had a large hole in the middle which was actually the size of a tire. Since discovering that we had been arguing on whether to make our Mustang a convertible or keep it a hard top by just re-welding the roof.
Rosalie was convinced though disappointed that it would be easier to just refit a roof of the same year and model and keep it a hard top, though I had insisted that making it a convertible was not only possible, but would fit the cars original design.
"It's beautiful Chris,"
"And it's possible, I personally think the car will look better as a convertible, I mean, remember how great they looked when we first saw them? Remember that dealership in Rochester, the one that had a whole mess of them, and you and I wanted to buy one, but the guy was a real sleaze? And in the end Edward let us know that he stole most of the 'stangs on his lot from people he had sold 'em too. The Boss was meant to be a convertible, you know it and I know it." I paused and pulled up the stool I kept under the table when I'm out in the garage for long periods. Using the touch screen, I pulled up my email box.
"I forgot about that."
"I emailed a dealership that specializes in old Mustangs, mainly 'stangs no later than 1979, the owner told me that he carries the special hydraulics we need to make it a convertible that are exact for a Boss, and he's willing to throw in the cover for half price. He's a Boss collector and wants to see pictures of ours when we're through."
Rosalie looked at me, the smile finally bursting through,
"When did you do all that?"
"'round four this morning," I replied, grinning. "His main business is in Massachusetts so I had to call early to catch them on time, right when they opened at eight."
"Wait you said you emailed them, why did you call?"
I shrugged, a few seconds passed as Rosalie gave me an expectant look and my grin widened.
"You know me, I hate email…I emailed him just to find out if he did carry parts for a 1969 Boss, once I knew he did, I felt it would be more professional to get in contact with the dealership over the phone." I looked over my shoulder at the car "I think we've got a good dealer to work with for most of the parts we're gonna need. He also said to call him when we're ready to attach the hydraulics and he'll walk us through the installation if we'd like."
Rosalie rolled her eyes at me and sighed
"Don't think I am ready to forgive you for the comment at the mall,"
"Wouldn't know you if you did," I replied
"And I better not know when you're watching those stupid movies."
"Wouldn't dream of it," she sighed again. "And that clinking noise that your hearing under the Beemer, I think I can stop it, if you'll let me."
Now Rosalie began laughing
"I hate it when you and Alice do that, you know that right?" she said between laughs
"I know…but 'least when I do it its only a few seconds 'fore it actually happens, and I'm not predicting exactly, it's not my fault you've got your thoughts written on your face." I paused and looked over at the Beemer "'sides, it was kinda hard to ignore the clinking the entire ride home. It was rather loud. 'Specially in the backseat. I think that's where the problem is, under the backseat." I rolled my eyes "man I hope it's not the shock mount again… do you realize how bad that's going to bloody bite."
I winced at the last two words, remembering how pissed she got with the caught dead in comment from earlier, but Rosalie just smiled and shook her head at me.
"I was talking about answering my question before I ask it," Rosalie explained
"Oops," was all I could say. I shrugged innocently, after all, she knows I can't help it, like Edward and Alice; I can't turn my ability off.
"Come on brat, I'll get the board for you," she grinned wide "and I'll get you a torch,"
"Cute Rose…very cute."
A/N: I know this chapter was really long and I apologize for that, cutting it into two chapters wasnt going to work because none of it felt right. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter up tomorrow, and it involves Edward so be on the lookout!