Chapter Sixteen
A/N: I love this chapter, but it was incredibly frustrating. I wrote Bella's part first and had little trouble with it. But a week later when I wrote Edward's part out in one long shot, my computer froze the moment I pressed the save button. There was nothing I could do and all but the first three paragraphs were lost. Needless to say, I was not happy.
BPOV
No matter how small a part the Cullens would play in my life, I intended to enjoy every moment we had together. As always, Mamma tried to keep us apart and, as always, Padre opposed her. I don't know what made him stand up for me in this case, normally he would go along with whatever Mamma wanted so far as I was concerned. They always argued whenever the Cullens came, but they also always made up again soon after. I decided not to let it bother me. I got to spend time with my friends, and I would just be grateful for that.
Today was one of the best days we had ever had. Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and I were all together in my courtyard with only Chelsea to guard us. I think Padre had finally convinced Mamma that these four wouldn't hurt me. We played jump rope games.
Ordinarily I got bored very easily with children's games, but this was fun. We swung the rope and sang at double time to keep up with vampire jumping pace. Even so, when Edward was jumping to 'I'm a little bumper car' , he 'ran around the corner' three times before we'd even swung the rope around once. I scowled at him and he smiled his crooked smile, making my heart skip a beat. Stupid gorgeous sparkly showoff of a vampire! It just wasn't fair for him to be so perfect!
Next was Emmett's turn. Rosalie and I sang while Edward and Alice swung the rope.
Down in the Valley where the green grass grows,
There sat Emmett pretty as a rose,
Up came Rosalie and kissed him on the cheek,
How many kisses does he get this week?
Edward and Alice spun the rope so fast that I couldn't see it. I was suspicious that Emmett wasn't jumping with every spin. Even vampires couldn't fall any faster than a human. I sighed. I wasn't a vampire, and I wasn't human, just some weird hybrid thing. My own biological mother hadn't wanted to stay with me. I was a complete freak, stronger and faster than humans, but unable to keep up with vampires, I didn't fit anywhere.
Edward turned to me and smiled, trying to get me to smile with him. Hope swelled in me at his concern. Maybe, just maybe, he didn't mind that I was a freak, maybe he could love me back? Just a little bit? I can only assume that my thoughts were written across my face, because his smile faded and my hope evaporated. I was delusional. He would never see me as more than a friend.
My thoughts were interrupted by Emmet as he finally messed up, cussing his disappointment. Chelsea looked up angrily at him, but it was Rosalie who dealt out the punishment, smacking him over the head.
'Don't swear in front of Bella!'
He pouted. 'But I only got to 564 kisses!'
'You won't get any if you don't behave yourself!'
I rolled my eyes, they could go on like this forever if we let them. 'My turn' I announced, trying to be cheerful. Alice looked at me gratefully, I guess I was right about them bickering forever.
Miss Bella had a rabbit,
She named him Cottontail,
She put him in the bathtub,
To teach him how to sail,
He drank up all the water,
He ate up all the soap,
He tried to eat the bathtub,
But it wouldn't go down his throat.
Miss Bella called the doctor,
Miss Bella called the nurse,
Miss Bella called the our Alice,
With her alligator purse.
In came the doctor,
In came the nurse,
In came our Alice,
With her alligator purse.
Mumps said the doctor,
Measels said the nurse,
Hiccups said our Alice
With her alligator purse
Bella punched the doctor,
Bella kicked the nurse,
Bella thanked our Alice,
With her alligator purse....
EPOV
I swung the rope in time with the beat of our rhyme, rather than the overly fast pace we normally set. Bella might be a half vampire, she might be much faster and far more graceful than a human, but we'd found that when she tried to keep up with the rest of us, she tended to get hurt. And even taking her psychotic family out of the equation, Bella getting hurt was not tolerable.
Why did little girls have to grow up? When Bella was smaller, I could think of nothing more pleasant than just sitting with her and Rose or Emmet and talking about whatever came up. But the way she looked at me now, doe eyed and adoring, it made me uncomfortable. I couldn't win. I was trapped between Tanya and a smitten four year old.
I sighed. Everyone went through the pain of an unrequited crush, I just didn't like being the cause of it. Bella had enough to deal with.
As if this weren't enough, my family wasn't exactly helping things. Alice thought it was extremely cute and couldn't understand why I didn't just play along. She didn't seem to comprehend that she was affectively asking me to toy with Bella's feelings, and that was something I would never do. She was too important.
Emmett found it extremely hilarious, and took full advantage of his ability to tease me without having to actually having to verbalize his taunts. Rosalie was similarly amused, but she didn't try to turn it into a joke. She just constantly threatened me with all of the horrible things she would do should I give into Alice's suggestions.
Jasper was the only one being mildly considerate. He knew how uncomfortable I was with the situation and took to reciting Plato's Republic in his head whenever Bella came up in conversation. Like me, his talent was not limited to immediate proximity and the last thing I needed was a play by play analysis of Bella's unrequited feelings. I was extremely grateful to Jasper and thanked him profusely. He merely smirked and shook his head, beginning his recitation of Plato once more.
'Ahhh!'
All of a sudden I was broken out of my reverie by Bella's scream and the gasps of my siblings. Emmett had a habbit of randomly handing out bone crushing hugs, but it seemed this time he'd gone a little too far. He loosened his hold immediately and moments later, the balling adolescent was cradled in Chelsea's arms, clutching at her chest as if to hold it together. Emmett had his fists balled up in his hair, a look of agony and guilt branded upon his face.
This was bad, this was very bad. Bella was hurt, and worse, Emmet was now in significant danger.
'I'm sorry' he whispered, over and over 'I'm so so sorry Bella'
'Its a little late for that' hissed Chelsea as Bella whimpered in her arms. 'Just wait till Sulpicia finds out, then we'll see how sorry you are!'
Emmett grew paler, if that were even possible for a vampire, and he froze as the terror truly began to sink in. Bella, however, giggled.
'Fooled you!'
Chelsea, Emmett and I stared at her in shock as she wriggled to herself free and ran over to high five the evil witches I called my sisters.
'Was that good enough? Do I get my reward?' she asked eagerly
'Oh yes, you definitely get your reward, you clever little minx' Rosalie looked pleased as punch, and gestured for Alice to retrieve something from behind the door of the courtyard. The malevolent pixie returned with a briefcase which she handed to Rose, who in turn handed it to Bella.
Too eagerly, Bella knelt on the ground with the briefcase before her, snapping the clasps open expertly to reveal stacks upon stacks of chocolate blocks. She unwrapped one and bit into it, as if testing the quality, and nodded. She shut the case and stood to shake hands with both Roasalie and Alice. 'Lovely doing business with you' she murmured seriously.
It looked far too much like a scene out of The Godfather. Not that such a thing wasn't appropriate, neither the Italian, nor American Mafia had anything on the Volturi.
Noticing our shocked faces, Bella turned back to the rest of us. 'What?' she inquired pertly, 'can't you people take a joke?'
I just shook my head and wondered how my sisters had possibly mannaged to hide this from me.
I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can, but its proving very difficult to write. Seriously, I've now posted up all of my prewritten chapters and I'm still trying to get this one to work, so please be patient and please review.