A/N: Updates! I love me some depression.
Playlist: www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=PYeky2PZfgg
Bella
Bella slowly padded down the stairs, peering at the immaculate white walls curiously. It was a good thing the house was perfectly clean. Dust would be afraid to enter. Bella didn't have mysophobia, but she was a clean freak. She looked around the corner, recognizing breakfast sounds.
She hesitated. Bella had no idea how to act in a typical family situation. She never had a typical family before. She had no clue of how family manners went. At the orphanage she took her meals and left to eat in her bedroom. She had no idea of the dos and don'ts. Bella sighed and walked around the corner.
Esme Cullen was flipping eggs on a pan, singing along to Kelly Clarkson on the radio. A blond man was reading a paper while leaning against a counter, chewing on toast absently. A huge bulky boy-man was scarfing down scrambled eggs and bacon with steam still swirling on it. A dainty fairy-like girl was watching the boy-man in disgust as a lanky blonde hugged her waist while eating toast smothered in syrup.
Bella stopped at the doorway, hovering as everyone turned to look at her. She suddenly realized she had no clue who anyone else was. She sucked a breath in, feeling suddenly self-conscious in her oversized shirt and knee-length shorts.
"Bella!" Esme said cheerfully, breaking the awkward silence. "You're up early."
She blinked, her eyes immediately going to the blue clock hanging next to the refridgerator. Was seven considered early? Bella usually got up at five or six. The exhaustion of yesterday had tired her out.
"I don't supposed you know the rest of us, do you?" Esme asked brightly. "This is Carlisle, my husband," she said, pointing to the man, who looked up and smiled briefly before returning to his papers. "Jasper, Alice, and Emmett," she continued, pointing to the blond, the fairy and the boy/man. "Edward and Rosalie are still upstairs. I expect they'll be down soon."
As if on cue the door opened and a blonde walked in. Bella recognized her as the hostile girl from yesterday, and quickly averted her eyes. Esme smiled happily. "Oh, that's Rose."
"Rosalie," the blonde snapped, kissing Emmett on the cheek and sitting next to him in the retro diner-like booth. Esme ignored her general bitchiness and kept flipping eggs. Bella hovered at the door for a moment, wondering where she should go now. Esme noticed her discomfort and pointed at a white table with chequered placemats. Bella slid in gratefully.
She watched the family for a while. It didn't escape her notice that none of the kids spoke to Carlisle or Esme, or that they refused to say anything other than a reluctant thanks for their food. There was a tension in the air, so thick it could be cut with a fork. Bella flinched as Rosalie turned an evil eye to Esme, muttering something as she took her breakfast and dug in.
"Holy Day O'Connor, these people are worse than the orphanage," Bella mumbled quietly it was silent to her own ears. She smiled suddenly, realizing what she had said. Some people at the orphanage were really twisted.
"Here you go, dear," Esme said, slipping a plate of steaming hot food onto the table. Bella heard Rosalie and Alice snort quietly and she nodded a thanks to Esme, forking into the eggs hungrily while watching the group huddled together.
Some family this was, Bella thought absently. They were as close as a bunch of mountain lions.
The door swung open again, and a boy walked in briskly. Bella turned slightly. "Bella, this is Edward," Esme said. Bella looked at the bronze-haired, green-eyed boy that had walked in. Edward turned and stared at her before composing his face into a hostile glare.
"Orphan Girl," Edward sneered. The other four tittered, not even bothering to hide their smirks. Carlisle Cullen didn't even turn, instead continuing to eat and read. Bella watched them in vague interest. The father didn't even seem concerned at all. "Orphan Girl, you're in my seat."
"Edward," Esme said. "There are two chairs there. Take the other one."
Edward ignored his mother, dragging out the other chair noisily, keeping his glare trained on Bella. Bella met his glare coolly. She had no idea how she was supposed to react. Hostility didn't affect her at all. After a while Edward dropped his glare and instead observed Bella clinically. Bella wondered why he was named Edward. He didn't seem a gentleman at all. But then again, Bella was apparently beautiful in Italian, and she was anything but.
"So, Orphan Girl," Edward began, a sneer pulling at his lips. "I suppose you're enjoying being here, aren't you? Feeding off Daddy C's cash like a money-hungry cow."
"There's no point talking to her, Edward," Rosalie called cruelly. "She can't talk, can you, poor girl?"
Snickers sounded from the table. Bella looked at Rosalie calmly and shrugged her shoulders. She decided not to point out that she could talk but just preferred not to.
"But then again," Edward continued thoughtfully. "I don't really mind you feeding off Daddy C's cash." He grinned and leaned in. "All of us love spending his money," he added in a stage whisper. Carlisle looked up at Edward before throwing down his paper, kissing Esme dryly on the cheek and striding out of the room.
"See, that's the big C in his bitchplosion goodness," Edward said, still in the whisper. "It's so fun seeing Daddy C acting like a spoiled bitch. But you'd know all about that wouldn't you?" He leaned in even closer. "How was your violin playing last night?"
Bella snapped her eyes up to meet his smirking stare. Before she knew it she had pushed her chair up and slapped him right across the face. Edward leaned back smiling, finally having provoked a reaction from her. Bella briefly considered snarling at him, but then they would all know she wasn't mute. Instead she settled for a furious glare and stormed out and to the guest room-her room.
She flung herself onto her bed, rolling onto her back and staring at the off-white ceiling. She felt like crying, but blinked fiercely to keep them in. She hadn't cried for almost seven years. She wasn't going to break the tradition now. Bella looked sideways instead, at her violin propped up against the wall.
She had no idea why such a simple comment had caused her to blow. But fuck her if she was going to let someone talk about her and her violin so conscendingly. Edward Cullen had no idea what he was talking about. If he thought he had problems, he should learn about hers.
Her violin was important to Bella. She had wanted to keep it a secret, but apparently there were no secrets in this house, she thought angrily. The Cullens probably snuck around listening at doors at night.
Bella sighed and rolled around, feeling her breakfast bubbling in her stomach. She pulled her pillow to her face, blinking in quick succession.
She stayed that way for three hours before drifting into sleep.
Edward
Edward immediately felt guilty.
It was ridiculous, and he had no reason to feel guilty, but all the same he couldn't help but feel the tiny prick of regret in his stomach. It was probably fueled by that fact that he had deliberately brought up the violin. How was he supposed to know it was a sensitive point? But then again, Edward was a pianist himself. He knew how touchy the subject was, especially if he was going through a musical drought.
After Bella had fled from the kitchen everything had turned silent. Only Rosalie seemed slightly appeased, but the girl was sadistic. Even Alice seemed uncomfortable.
"She's such a freak," Rosalie commented, checking her reflection on the back of a spoon. Jasper threw her a disgusted glance.
"I think we went too far," Jasper mumbled. Alice bit her lip and Jasper patted her waist comfortingly. Rosalie stared at them unbelievingly. Edward rolled his eyes at the quarrel threatenning to erupt and concentrated on his food.
If Orphan Girl was so unimportant to him, he shouldn't be thinking of her as a human. She was just another pawn in the game, one that was disposable at that. Edward chanced a flickering glance at Esme, pottering around the kitchen as though everything was so fucking homely. Edward bit back a scream, stuffing his mouth instead with eggs and crispy bacon.
He heard soft mumbling break out at the other table, and he briefly resented that he was always excluded from their little renegade gang. He constantly felt like he was deliberately excluded, like an outsider. He got the feeling they thought him as an anomaly, the prodigy among the group of weirdos. It was frustrating beyond belief.
He touched his cheek lightly, where he felt the sting of the slap echo like a distant scream. Maybe Orphan Girl was just as lonely as he was.
Shoving the last forkful of food into his mouth he strode over and dumped the plate in the sink, watching the oil slither down the plate in twisted fascination before turning and walking out, ignoring the hot gazes of his siblings. He went to his room immediately-it really was the only place he could go.
He hesitated at the door, glancing at the door beckoning to him. He wanted to hear her music again, but spying on her twice just felt like a violation of privacy. It wasn't right, and from her reaction earlier, if he wanted to live he wouldn't spy again.
Still, despite all the very valid arguments, Edward felt himself walk nearer and nearer to the door.
Well, Emmett and Jasper watched pornography. They were always trying to coerce Edward into it. He decided to consider Orphan Girl's fucktastic music be his porn.
There was, sadly, no music. He heard instead a soft humming. He peered into the crack between the door and the frame, watching Orphan Girl sleep. Her chest rised and fell steadily, and Edward looked at the black violin case sitting next to her. He sighed, crouching and leaning against the door, listening to the soft breathing that filtered through the paper-thin walls.
He listened to Orphan Girl sleep for three hours.
He went to his room and sat at his piano for two.
A/N: Boo, I suck at updating. Ugh. On the brighter side, I'm halfway through...six different stories now, of which only 2 are actually published.