"Excellent, everyone is here." Jones said gruffly, checking his list of thirty eight names and gazing around the room at us.

I surveyed the cafeteria and quickly spotted Alice, she grinned wide at me and I returned it. She hadn't said if I would be paired with her, but like I said there's nothing wrong with hoping and my odds were already looking better.

I turned my attention away from my sister and looked at the other juniors, getting to know them by reading their body language.

Most of them looked as bored as we probably did. One girl stood out, if I was reading her right, she would be perfect for Marie. She was kind of shy, caring, and looked eager to take an eighth grader under her wing, motherly almost…perfect.

Mr. Jones cleared his throat a few times as if he was trying to get our attention, unnecessary because no one was really talking.

"When I call your name, step forward. Each junior has already received each of your names, they will stand up when I call your name, you are to go right to them and remain silent until I have called everyone. And remember I expect maturity with this." He cleared his throat one more time for effect "Paige Andrews,"

Paige stood up and I frowned as she not Marie ended up with the shy looking girl who welcomed her with open arms and a gentle smile.

"Damn…" I muttered so softly no one around me even noticed I spoke. Paige is shy and quiet and had it not been for Marie would have been even my choice for the shy looking girl. But she's not as shy and quiet as Marie is.

Paige's best matchup would've been the girl standing with the shy looking girl, she had a slightly bored look on her face, but under normal circumstances she's bubbly I could tell she was also kind of down to earth as well which is Paige 100%.

"Kevin Blake."

Marie reached over and held onto the sleeve of my sweatshirt, I could smell her fear and out of the corner of my eye, saw a tear run down her cheek. Her name was next.

"It'll be ok," I whispered, reminding her of my promise.

"Marie Burke," Slowly, Marie headed to the front, the bubbly looking girl stepped forward to greet her and my admiration for the school board and the teachers slipped down a few notches, they should know Marie better than that. I looked the girl over she seemed all right I just hoped she would take care of Marie.

I sighed and prepared for my name to be called, if they had screwed up on pairing Marie, my chances of ending up with Alice had just dropped like the stock market in '29. "Christian Cullen," I heard whispers float from the juniors, mainly consisting of

'Another Cullen?'

'Even he looks like the others, how can they all be adopted?'

'Do you see his eyes? Can he even see?'

I groaned a bit as I stepped forward, but had to really fight the grin as Alice stepped forward to meet me. She didn't say anything as she guided me over to the chair she had just occupied.

When all the names had been called, Mr. Jones gave everyone a few minutes to chat and get to know each other before the first bell rang.

I followed Alice to a quiet corner of the room, ignoring the whispers that now consisted of:

'Figures he'd get his sister,'

'yeah that's 'cause no one else wants to hang around with one of them all day. I know I wouldn't."

'I didn't think it was possible, but he's creepier than his brothers'

'I cant get over his eyes, it's like he's staring right though you! That is unnatural, have you ever seen someone whose eyes look like that?'

These comments, added on top of the previously mentioned ones, lowered to whispers that I could still hear perfectly. Apparently originality severely lacked among the junior class.

"Surprised?" Alice sang smugly.

I nodded "Very," I grinned "you could've said something in the car this morning, or even last night, y'know 'stead of letting me stress over this?"

"I could've, but where's the fun in that?"

"So how many strings did you pull to get me?"

"None," she paused "the teachers figured it would be best to pair us up, especially when Carlisle called yesterday when I got the note that I was to be a 'senior friend' and insisted that it be best to pair me off with my little brother."

I snorted, that figured. She threw her arm around me, hugging me tight, I could see just how excited about this she was.

"So, oh mentor, where to?"

She grinned and I reached down to pick up not only my backpack, but her books as well, at least her math books.

"Class."

More specifically we were heading to the one of the two classes Alice has with Edward, calculus. Math at 8:25 in the morning is not my idea of a good time, but hanging out with Alice and even gloomy Edward made up for it.

In all honesty I hate being by myself and I really think next time we start over, I'm done with the middle school scene, 'least for a while.

Unfortunately I didn't see Marie at all throughout the day, least not till lunch. I followed Alice as she floated into the cafeteria where at a table off to the side, sat Emmett, Rosalie, Edward, and Jasper.

And just like I do at the middle school, they had trays of food in front of them, pretending to pick at them.

Though, when Emmett saw me, I read his intentions and readied myself catching the apple he chucked at me, which I would've chucked right back, but caught a glimpse of Mr. Jones and decided against retaliation, at least here.

Alice skipped up to the line and purchased a small tray of food, we eighth graders were eating free today, so I took a bowl of salad and French fries for ammo/retaliation and followed my sister back to our family.

Emmett pulled out a chair between him and Edward and I slid into it, while Alice sat down close to Jasper.

"So kid, how's high school treating you?" Emmett asked as seriously as he could muster.

I grinned wide.

"Oh gee Mr. Senior sir, it's so big and scary and I'm just a measly little eighth grader soon to be a measly freshman. I don't know how I will ever find my way around." I replied putting on my most whiney of voices, between chuckles. "oh please Mr. Senior, will you help me find my way and promise not to beat me up if I promise to give you all my lunch money and do your homework next year. After all, you'll still be here right?"

Emmett snorted back a laugh, which to an outsider would have sounded very much like a growl, but I know my brother.

"Very mature Chris," Rosalie commented as she rolled her eyes at the two of us.

I shrugged.

"So that Mr. Banner…is he always like that?" I asked, referring to the Nutty Professor like teacher who taught science.

Edward chuckled and nodded

"He can be,"

Emmett grinned wide, "What's the matter, the wittle measly eighth grader afraid of the big bad science teacher? I figured after that Jones character you'd be able to handle just about any teacher."

"Yeah well after dealing with you for sixty odd years, middle school and high school is a breeze."

"yeah you should know, haven't you been stuck in middle school for that long?" He snorted again "talk about being held back."

I threw a French fry at him

"look whose talkin', you've repeated 10th grade how many times?" I shot back

"The two of you honestly, grow up" Rosalie groaned referring to both Emmett and I and our bantering of each other.

"I've been trying for sixty-five years, hasn't happened yet." I replied "what's his excuse?"

"My excuse?" Emmett repeated his grin getting wider "my excuse is I'm already at the perfect age Dr. Dootlittle, I don't have to lie about my age to get a license, I can get it legally. You're the one that has to see a forger to get one. So young…so naïve."

I picked up one of Edward's textbooks and smacked Emmett on the arm, not hard, for fear of damaging the book, but hard enough to create a thudding noise, partly for the lack of licenses comment, but mainly because he called me Dr. Doolittle.

He grinned and gave me a push; again…not hard to really feel it, but hard enough that I was caught off guard and nearly tipped the chair over.

Luckily Emmett reached over and grabbed my shirt to stop me from topping over, but he couldn't contain his laughter.

"Yes! I finally got him!" He exclaimed. Catching me off guard is a rare thing, especially when it comes to Emmett, it's to the equivalent of any of one of us sneaking up on Alice or Edward, it just doesn't happen so on the very off times he does catch me its nearly impossible to knock him off his high horse for days, months, sometimes even decades.

"Karma Emmett, karma," I reminded him, glancing over at Jones to make sure he hadn't seen that.

Alice and Jasper were chuckling, Edward was trying to hold back his laughter and Rosalie was flat out ignoring the two of us, but I could see the sides of her mouth twitching into a smile.

"And I believe you owe Chris some ATV money?" Alice reminded him. Emmett made a face, but decided not to say anything, partly because he was laughing to hard.

"How much are you up to now Em?" Jasper inquired, he only owned me 10 dollars and I was actually at the point where I was going to forget it, he had been helping me with the mustang even though that wasn't part of the deal, and it had been an accidental slip up.

Emmett on the other hand, yeah I had lost count on his bill, at ten bucks a comment, he had to be up there.

"$450?" Edward exclaimed as he read Emmett's mind, the rest of us stared at Emmett, even I did.

I didn't think it was that bad. Then I looked at my family, I had forgotten that part of Esme's deal had been if Rosalie, Alice, Edward, Carlisle, or herself heard the Dr. Doolittle comments, even if I wasn't around to hear it.

"Damn Emmett," I breathed, "keep going…'nother few hundred and I can BUY another ATV."

He rolled his eyes, but chuckled just the same, everyone did.

"Chris," Edward said softly overcoming his laughter "did you by any chance happen to invite someone to sit with us?"

I looked up from flicking a fry at Emmett.

"Er, perhaps…why?"

"Christian…" Rosalie said, warning in her tone.

"Look, she's a friend and she was really freaked out 'bout today, to the point of tears. I told her if she was feeling overwhelmed or y'know scared, she could sit with me."

Edward grinned knowingly, of course, he could read Marie's mind and I groaned, Rosalie and Alice exchanged a look, before both of them began giggling to themselves.

"Well, friend or friend" Alice said "she's about to look over here at you,"

I glanced up when I felt eyes on me and caught Marie's look.

She looked ok, she was sitting with the girl mentoring her and a group of other juniors and a couple eighth graders.

It looked as if her mentor was ignoring her, but I couldn't help but grin as I saw the girl I had hoped would be paired with Marie, not only seated at the same table, but talking to Marie and Paige she seemed to be explaining something to the two of them and by her hand gestures I'm guessing it was about the cafeteria.

I gave her a grin and she returned it, letting me know she was ok she still looked scared, but I think the junior sitting with her was calming her down, whether said junior knew it or not; either way I was grateful to the girl. I would have to find a way to secretly repay her.

The junior looked up and followed Marie's eyes to me, she seemed surprised by me for a second especially at seeing where I was sitting and with who, but the surprise lasted only a second as she gave me the same comforting grin that she had given all of us a few hours prior to lunch.

I returned the grin slowly, before chuckling to myself as I looked back down at my tray of untouched salad.

Without looking around for Jones I flicked another French fry at Emmett, my goal was to get them stuck in his hair, but I was laughing to hard and missing completely.

"I think our little brother has finally found looove." Emmett replied. He reached over to put the fry down my shirt knowing he'd never be able to knock me off the chair again and I ducked closer to Edward who guarded me as Rosalie gave Emmett a warning look.

"Shuddup," I shot back.

"Bella's going to stare at Edward in a minute. Look normal." Alice spoke up. Quickly I ducked my head, staring at my tray, as long as I don't look at the source of my brother's torment I couldn't read her.

I glanced up and caught Edward's eye and he gave me a look of pure sympathy as the others shifted and fidgeted I did the same so we looked like normal humans.

"Wow Chris, you are really determined not to read her aren't you?" Jasper said softly and I sighed, he could feel my panic and my quick bout of stress and I nodded.

But I glanced over at Edward as he had his own issue to deal with, ironically because of the same source.

"Stay out of it, Alice." Edward hissed under his breath "it's not going to happen." I looked over at him, then at her as she pouted and Emmett nudged me chuckling. We both know how impatient Alice is to become friends with Bella Swan and the fact that Edward was being stubborn about ignoring his own desire to be with her had the both of us completely amused at the scene playing out between our brother and sister. "It makes plenty of sense to me," Edward finished as Alice snorted at him.

I rolled my eyes, but looked Edward over carefully; he was in a bad mood all of a sudden, worse than usual.

Actually I could see just how tense he was; only Jasper would be able to also see how stressed Edward was as well as myself, we're the only two.

Though Jasper wouldn't be able to understand why Edward was in a bad mood this particular time since being in a bad mood had become a regular occurrence with Edward. But I could, sort of, it was something about the school dance…and her…

With understanding of the deal at least as much as I really wanted to understand, I went back to bugging Emmett, keeping a cautious eye on Jones.

I had to be careful to not bug Emmett to the point of catching Jones's attention. Of course he'd be able to guess that this was my brother, but I would be embarrassing him in front of his high school colleagues and since the two of us already do not get along, pissing him off with so much left to the school year and therefore our time together, it was not in my best interest at all to get even more on his bad side, not in the least.

I felt a pair of eyes on me and fought the instinct to look up, knowing what direction those eyes were coming from and knowing for a fact that it WAS NOT Marie, I had a feeling, a gut feeling that it was…HER…and I would not take the chance.

I was more than a little relieved when Alice stood up and tugged on my sweatshirt for me to follow her.

I stood up, threw out the uneaten food and followed her to the exit. I took the chance that I wouldn't pick out Bella Swan and glanced at that table, hoping Marie was looking which she was.

I gave her a reassuring wave, but crumbled up the note I had written her in my pocket and tossed it in the trash bin on the way out.

Delivering the note would have meant contact with that table and since I didn't know which one was Bella, I was better off avoiding the situation completely.

We stopped by Alice's locker and as I had done this morning I carried her books to her government class and finally her English class. I had to admit, despite the panic at lunchtime, the day had been enjoyable, so much so that I was able to ignore the whispers and curious stares regarding the "other Cullen".

Alice's English class was reading Macbeth, easily my favorite of all Shakespeare, not just because it's based in Scotland, but I love the scenes with the witches, and Lady Macbeth is completely amusing 'cause she's decidedly insane.

I slide into a seat next to Alice, chairs had been placed next to all the desks in preparation for us eighth graders and this room was no exception.

I grinned at seeing most of the kids in my own English class in this one, apparently this is a senior level English, one of two taught by the same teacher who teaches all the other upper level English classes.

I saw Sara and Patrick wander in behind their mentors and even they looked relieved to see me, Sara even smiled at me, which despite my shock I returned. Behind them came Kelly, Paul, and Steve. The only ones missing were Jenna and Marie.

Sara's mentor slide into a seat in front of Alice so naturally Sara sat next to her, when she did, she turned to talk to me, keeping one eye on Alice. Alice isn't intimidating, not in the least, but she catches people's attention.

"How are you doing Chris?" Sara whispered to me

"Not bad…you?"

"All right I guess. I'm glad this things almost over though; it's been really boring so far. I mean it's interesting experiencing high school, but…" she giggled "and I never thought I'd admit this, but I miss doing our own school work. None of the teachers I've met have let us participate, even in gym we had to sit on the bleachers and watch." I nodded "how about you?"

"Same," I replied "but it's not so bad, it's been cool hanging with my sister." I finished. Sara looked up at Alice; apparently she'd forgotten I had a sister and that I was paired with her. Alice who was pretending to be absorbed in her book looked up "Sara, this is my sister Alice, Alice this is Sara."

Sara didn't say anything for a second fully taking in Alice. Intimating or not, Alice is still one of the older Cullen kids and reputation precedes first introductions.

"H…hi." Sara stuttered

"Hi," Alice replied closing her book "nice to meet you Sara,"

"Ni…nice to meet you too Alice." Sara was slipping into panic mood, without Janet, she's very laid back and apparently very flustered.

Unlike Janet, who by reading her body language I know just doesn't like me, Sara just finds me to quiet to be anything but kind of creepy. She's right in the middle of Janet and Marie, not liking me to the point of wanting to be close and anything other than friends, but not hating me to the point of being overly mean and standoffish to me and I gotta respect that.

Seeing how nervous she was getting, I quickly decided to intervene, get her attention off of Alice.

"So, Sara, did you answer the questions Mrs. Brown gave us?"

Relief washed over Sara's face as she nodded.

"All but the third one, I couldn't answer it."

I reached into my backpack and pulled out the list of questions, normally I'd be working on this at home, but in anticipation for us just being observers, I saved all my homework so I would have SOMETHING to do all day.

"Frank McCourt describes his father as like the holy trinity, with three people inside him, explain in your own words what he meant by this." I read. I looked up at her,

"Yeah, that, I remember the chapter, but I don't remember that part, is he saying his father has like multiple personality or something?"

I looked over at Alice for a second who had gone back to her book, Sara couldn't, but I could hear Alice giggling behind her book.

"No, he means he sees three sides to his father. The first side is the caring storytelling father who entertains Frank and his brothers with his stories, the second is the work ethically minded father who dresses in a suit and tie for every job, who wants to find work, but cant, and the third is the alcoholic father who is easily sidetracked by the pubs, drinks the wages and the dole and comes home in a drunk stupor."

Sara nodded thinking this over "Do they explain what the dole is and I just missed it somehow?"

"The dole was relief, kind of like food stamps and small stipends today, from the government. It was public assistance back then. It was never enough to really live on. In sense, the more people in the family the more the dole, but the dole was there to cover food, rent, stuff like that. When the other twin dies, the dole gets reduced to sixteen shillings."

"How much is that?"

I had to think for a second, quickly doing the math in my head and remembering my homeland's currency.

"A shilling is about twenty cents in todays money so sixteen times twenty cents that's about a three dollars and twenty cents, roughly."

Sara blinked

"That's all?" I nodded "no one can live on that!"

"You gotta remember Sara the value of the dollar was different in the 30s," I couldn't help but remembering how excited I would get with a shilling or tupence in my pocket running down to the sweetshop or even to the cinema, back then I felt rich a shilling even two shillings could buy two movie tickets and possibly some chocolate. "But even so, that's not a lot of money for a family of four, with more on the way to live off of."

Now Sara looked at me suspiciously, not in a serious manner.

"Chris…did you finish the book already?" I raised an eye brow "you did didn't you, Marie did too, she finished it the night she got it. You two are such bookworms."

The way she said it, it wasn't cruel, she was being honest and even amused. If I had to guess Marie's best friend, it was definitely Sara.

The teacher came in and started class before Sara could continue. She gave me a shy grin before turning to face forward. Alice nudged me a grin plastered on her face and all I could do was roll my eyes.

After class, we met up with Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie as we headed to the parking lot and Edward.

As we walked, Emmett filled us in on Edward's even stranger than usual behavior in their Spanish class.

When we hit the exit, I could see the Volvo. Edward had pulled it into the narrow lane and I'm pretty sure on purpose, blocked a '53 Chevy pickup truck from continuing onto the exit. I couldn't help but stare at the truck, studying it.

I looked over at Rosalie wondering why she hadn't told me someone at Forks high school was driving such a classic truck, for it's age, the body was in great shape minus a strange dent on the bed of the truck.

I grinned as the driver revved the engine trying to intimidate Edward into moving, which was completely fair, he WAS blocking everyone in, but the sound of that engine roaring was so loud, it was like being at a truck pull and I know if the driver wanted to, he could easily squish the Volvo flat.

As much as I love my brother's car, I would've paid good money to see the truck flatten it like at a monster truck rally or something.

Those old trucks were built like tanks and Volvo's may be the spokes car of safety, they are no match for a truck built like a tank.

I was so distracted by it I didn't even notice that my siblings were trying to figure out what our brother was doing, exactly.

Normally I would be doing the same thing, especially after what Emmett had told us. But I was getting used to Edward's apparent decision to have bipolar disorder all of a sudden, so I just ignored it, I was just hoping that it wasn't contagious or anything.

I waited for the others to move, and followed them as we slowly walked to the Volvo and got in, I slide in between Rosalie and Jasper and stared at Edward as he practically rolling with laughter. Emmett and I exchanged a look as he sat in the front seat.

Alice slide in on Jasper's other side closest to the door, like I said the Volvo only legally seats five, and in most cases, Alice or I either are squished in the front seat together, squished in the back, or in someone's lap.

Alice took care of that problem by sliding into Jasper's lap, allowing me plenty of room between Jasper and Rose.

The owner of the truck revved the engine again and I started to look behind me to get a better look at the truck itself and the driver, but Rosalie stopped me, she put her hand on my shoulder gently and gave it a squeeze.

"Chris, don't." she said softly.

I raised an eyebrow,

"Huh?" I asked

"Trust her Chris, you're better off not" Jasper spoke up, as Rosalie glared poisonously at Edward.

I was really confused, why were they stopping me from looking, what wa- Now my eyes went wide.

"She's in that truck…that's her truck" I said softly, not saying Bella Swan's name aloud. Jasper and Alice nodded and I wished I could disappear into the leather interior of the Volvo "oh, bloody hell." I muttered banging the back of my head against the headrest annoyed at myself as I realized just how close I came to reading her.

Rosalie put her arm around my shoulder protectively, but she continued to glare at Edward.

"Let's go!" she hissed impatiently. "Stop being an idiot. If you can."

Rosalie's hug on my shoulder tightened and I mouthed thanks to her as Edward shot off out of the parking lot.

It was a very quiet ride home, 'cept for Edward's random chuckling at what I have no idea. He picked up speed as we headed up our long winding driveway and as he did, the silence was broken by Alice,

"So do I get to talk to Bella now?" she asked.

"No," Edward snapped, making me jump, he had been so gleeful the whole way home, that I was completely not expecting him to snap at anyone…especially not at Alice, but she didn't seemed bothered by his anger.

"Not fair! What am I waiting for?"

I held back a chuckle, she's really determined to fulfill her prediction of becoming friends with the Swan girl, she was like a little kid who was just told they couldn't have a sweet until after dinner.

"I haven't decided anything, Alice."

"Whatever, Edward."

"What's the point of getting to know her?" Edward muttered, "if I'm just going to kill her." I think the pair of them had forgotten they weren't alone in the car,

"That's a good point," I said softly to no one in particular, Alice was on apparently the same thought process, because her reply to Edward was

"You have a point."

Sighing I braced myself as Edward took the final turn into the garage at like 90 miles an hour and Rosalie held me as he screeched to a stop, inches from the wall.

"Breaks work fine Edward, nice to see you finally figured out how to use 'em," I huffed, he ignored me and Rosalie when she said

"Enjoy your run" she said smugly, helping me untangle myself from the backseat as he threw himself out of the car and took off.

Rosalie snorted with satisfaction and headed to the house. Once I had gotten my foot untangled from under the driver seat, I climbed out of the car and tossed my bag onto the countertop.

Jasper and Alice also headed inside, but I saw Emmett lingering, I grinned wide at him, walked over to the stand I keep my helmets and looked back at my brother.

"Wanna race?" I asked tossing the helmet at him which he caught, his grin widened

"Bikes or quads?"

I looked over at my section of the garage, Rose and I were in the middle of fixing the engine on the ATV, but my Kawasaki was fine and my year older Yamaha Z250 is just as fast as the Kawasaki.

Rose and I had just rebuilt the engine on it when Carlisle saw a great deal on the '05 Kawasaki.

"Bikes, quads are out for now. Something's up with the engine on the quads, Rose and I aren't quite finished with 'em"

He pulled on his helmet and walked over to the Yamaha and kicked it to life. I pulled my own helmet and did the same to the Kawasaki.

A vicious roar erupted in the garage and for effect I revved the engine a bit. I inched the bike out of the garage with Emmett following, if we head down our driveway to the main road, it eventually leads back to town, but going the other way gives us hundreds of paths running through the Olympic park, I revved the bike once more and booked it towards one of the paths, with Emmett right behind me.

The bike growled as I flew over the paths ducking low flying tree branches, some of them hitting my helmet echoing through my ears.

I love driving my ATV, but my dirt-bike can go places my quad can't and it is so much faster. I turned sharply to the left and braced myself as the bike sailed over a fallen tree.

I was beating Emmett, if only by a matter of seconds, he was right behind me and gaining.

We were headed back to the house, as the little sun Forks managed to get began setting, the bikes have headlamps…excuse me, headlights, but on the Yamaha its dead and on the Kawasaki it's dimming.

I revved the engine boosting it's power as I hit another jump and the bike landed in a puddle about a foot deep of water and more so mud splattering my bike and my clothes. This slowed me down enough that Emmett made his move and he was now so close I could've reached out and touched him.

Carefully, I stood up, leaning over my handlebars to give me extra speed. Being light has it's disadvantages as well as it's advantages, sure I get more air than Emmett and being lighter puts less weight on the bike and therefore less strain to slow it down, but it also means I have to be cautious how I handle it.

I have to be careful not to let the bike get away from me, I have less control over it because I can't shift my weight around, especially coming down from a jump. Emmett can, if he leaned over his handlebars he could shoot past me easily. On the quads we're evenly matched, but on the bikes, not so much, more balance is necessary for the bike than the quad.

We were heading up the driveway now, no more single lane racing, it was neck and neck, I gunned the bike pushing it to pick up speed, I used my right foot to support the bike as we sailed around one sharp curve in our driveway then my left after another.

Carefully I leaned my body over the handlebars so my helmet was touching the bars, trying to remove the friction my body created and instantly sped up, giving myself that tiny extra boost that allowed me to beat Emmett as we skidded to a stop, literally inches from Rosalie's BMW.

We looked at each other, our eyes wide with panic. Emmett pulled off his helmet and I realized he was trying not to laugh; I grinned and started snickering,

"That was close," I said between snorts

"Yeah really, can you imagine if we hit it?"

I made a face

"The images that come to mind are fire, brimstone, and hundreds of dollars in bodywork and her not speaking to either of us for a few decades."

Emmett nodded shutting the bike down and I did the same.

We wheeled the bikes carefully around the BMW and into the back of the garage, where all my bikes, quads, and gear is kept

"That was fun kid, thanks."

"Anytime," I replied, pulling off my helmet and putting it carefully back on it's stand. Emmett began laughing again and I raised an eyebrow "now what's so funny?"

"Kid, if Rose, Alice, or Esme see you, you are a dead man." He finished, flat out laughing

I looked down and realized I was covered from the neck down in mud, I grinned and pulled my shirt over my head. It was caked with drying mud and made a thudding, splattering noise when I dropped it to the concrete floor.

"Bloody hell…" I muttered

"Maybe I should get the hose…" Emmett finished as serious as he could muster

"Yeah, and go wash off the streak of mud you got on the beemer."

His eyes went wide as they drifted over to the BMW, a clear streak of mud caked the car.

"Damn it!" he exclaimed and grabbed a sponge from the sink and soaked the thing in water, before darting over to the car and carefully scrubbing the dirt away.

I snorted as I reached to pick up my shirt and threw it over the handlebars of my bike to dry, I'd clean it later, and just hoped Esme or Carlisle didn't see it…my section of the garage has a tendency to get a little…er…disastrous.

I'm a neat and organized person in the normal sense…where Rose and I work on the cars is always tidy and organized, but I don't feel the need to extend that to my dirt bikes, quads, and equipment.

It drives Rosalie nuts because she can never find anything when she's working on them with me, and it drives Carlisle nuts 'cause the stuff kinda migrates into his parking spot.

"You missed a spot," I said pulling on one of my spare shirts I keep out here.

"Maybe she wont notice,"

I snorted

"Yeah and maybe it wont rain tomorrow."

"Good point, I say we don't tell her and-"

"Do I look suicidal to you?" I replied "who do you think she's gonna blame?" I looked over at the bikes, Emmett's was spotless, he had managed to avoid the puddle in depth, but had gotten some on his jeans hence the streak on the beemer; my bike and my shirt on the other hand were covered, big red flag "I'll be blamed by default…or convenience." I paused "try really hot water, let the hot water run for a few minutes…that'll take care of it, always does."

Emmett grinned

"Always does?" he repeated

"Yeah…she parks that thing so bloody close to my bikes it's impossible not to get a little mud on it."

"Hah, so the truth comes out."

I rolled my eyes and left him to his cleaning.

I headed to the back of the house, climbed up the siding and swung myself carefully into my room, fully grateful for my own shower and the fact I do my own laundry.