Riley P.O.V.
Charlie drove me to the bus station a few minutes before the bus left. He had driven in silence and he gave me a quick one-armed hug before I quickly boarded the bus.
15 hours was a nice time for thinking. I was proud of myself for keeping it together and not freaking out when Paul told me about werewolves and vampires. They just seemed so normal that it didn't feel like a big deal. Now that I was alone however….
It just seemed so strange and wrong. I mean really? What was next? Demons and Ghosts? Was I going to wake one morning and notice that I sprouted horns? I almost regretted going to Forks. But if I didn't I would have had to wait a 6 months before my social worker contacted her. I thought of my mother's husband. I couldn't imagine him drinking someone's blood. I couldn't imagine my mother drinking blood. It seemed so wrong. How could she have wanted that?
And the pack. All those boys were huge, yes, but I imagined the younger guys, Tom and Dylan. Even though they were tall and buff the thought of them exploding into giant wolves didn't make sense. Maybe it was a joke. Let's play a trick on the new girl. Yes, that seemed plausible.
But if that was true then why did Charlie play along with him? I can see a bunch of teenage guys doing that but Charlie was an old man. He wouldn't have any patience for that.
I replayed every event in my head. Everything made sense. Everything fit. Everything felt true. I was sure none of those guys were good enough actors to pull off a joke that big.
I remembered Sam throwing a laughing Levi into the air. I laughed at a brief image of wolf howling at the moon with Sam's hair covered face.
No matter how I looked at it, it was true.
The bus finally pulled into the last stop. I grabbed my bag and jumped off. I quickly hailed a cab and he took me to my foster-house. I noticed he grew uncomfortable as we pulled into my neighborhood. After I paid him he sped out of here. I walked up to the house.
After being in the Cullen's house, my current living situation seemed worse than it did two days ago.
The grass was dead as it always was with a few more pieces of litter than when I left it. I stepped on a few cigarette butts on the sidewalk. I jammed the key into the lock and jiggled it till the door flew open. On the floor were toys from the younger kids and unpaid bills from the foster-family. My stomach rumbled and I headed into the kitchen for food. The fridge was empty save for a few pieces of moldy fruit and an empty carton of milk.
I shut it and wished I hadn't eaten all my food on the bus. It's not like I don't get fed here. There just wasn't anything good. I grabbed Lucky Charms off the shelf and ate it dry.
After that I slugged up the stairs, each one creaking. I changed into my pajamas in the bathroom where the sink was a mess. Toothpaste from God knows how long ago was stained onto the sink and like every other room in the house the floor was littered with garbage except it was more repulsive because it was bathroom garbage. There were only two bedrooms in the house. One for my "parents" and the other for the girls. Since there was only two guys living here they slept on pull-out couch in the basement. The girl's room was small. All of the space was taken up by three beds pushed together. We had a rack for our clothes and a bin for our belongings. I dropped my bag in the bin and went to my part of the bed. There were four of us girls. Tina and Lily were the youngest so they got their own beds and Jenny who was 12 got to share a bed with me.
"Move over." I mumbled tired pushing her into the middle so I would get the end.
"Mm." She groaned sleepily clawing at me with her hand. I sighed and stood on the bed and squeezed myself between her and Lily.
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(A few hours later)
"Riley, wake up!" An annoyed voice told me. I woke up and looked blearily into the face of Jenna.
"I'm up." I mumbled into the pillow before standing up. The house was full of shouts so I knew everyone was up. I grabbed my court outfit of the rack and went to the bathroom to shower. I made it fast since I only had 20 minutes of bathroom time in the morning. I hopped out and started getting dressed. I was in my underwear when the door flew open I covered myself with my hands.
My 11 year-old foster brother stood there laughing evilly.
"Perv!" I shouted slamming the door in his face.
The siblings I hated the most were the curious little boys. I'd been getting peeped at since I was 14.
After I pulled on a blue blouse and black skirt with rhinestone studs and a heart necklace, and I fixed my hair in a bun, applying a light coat of make-up I headed downstairs.
The kitchen was the main source of the shouts. Lily and Tina were hitting each other and screaming. Jenna was having a conversation on the phone, and the two guys were wrestling in the living room.
"Hey Riley! Did he peep at you again?" Chris asked and he had Brendon in a headlock.
"Kick his ass." I told him.
"I'll take that as a yes." Chris smiled. Chris was the only tolerable person in the house.
"CHRIS! Let go of him now!" Kathryn screamed as she walked into the room carrying a pan of eggs.
"You're son peeped at me again. He has serious problems." I told her. She ignored this.
"Chris let Brendon go. Give the girls their breakfast." Kathryn shoved the frying pan at him and Chris reluctantly removed his arms from Brendan's neck and took the frying pan. I started to move past her but her hand shot out and grabbed my arm.
"Where have you been?" She asked. I knew she wasn't concerned. She was only annoyed that I disobeyed her.
"Out. I thought you'd appreciate a break from me." I pulled my arm out of her grasp and walked into the kitchen. Chris tossed me a plate and I caught it while he dumped eggs onto it.
"Couldn't have extended that vacation a little?" Kathryn yelled pulling apart her twins from killing each other.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.
"You know, Riley, the state isn't paying me enough to deal with you."
"After today, you won't have to deal with it." I told her eating quickly.
"Don't make promises you can't keep." She yelled picking up a toy and handing it to Tina.
I put the plate in the sink and grabbed a jacket with my purse and left the house. I had to walk out of the neighborhood before I could get to the train station. There were a lot of people on the train on their way to work so no one paid me any attention.
The courtroom was busy for a Monday morning. I went through security removing all the metal as they searched my bag. The security guard moved one of those handheld metal detector things across my body. It flashed near my lower region and he raised his eyebrows.
"Navel piercing." I rolled my eyes and lifted my shirt.
After that I went to my courtroom. There were only a few people in it. My caseworker sat inside the section separating us and the people who were waiting their turn. She waved me over. She showed me where to sit and I waited for the judge to come in. A few more people walked in. They wanted to be early for their cases I supposed. After sitting there a few minutes the judge walked in and everyone fell silent.
"Will Riley Swan please rise?" She asked. I stood up and gave her a small smile which she ignored.
"I've reviewed your file and it says here that you will be turning 16 next week?" She asked reading my file.
"Yes, your honor," I replied in a firm voice. One thing I always took pride in was the fact that I never shied away from confrontation. "I'll be able to get emancipated, I can get my G.E.D. get a job."
"And is this your caseworker here?" She said motioning to Diane who stood up.
"I am your honor." She answered. "I've only been with Riley a few months, she tends to change hands often."
"I see here you've been in 7 different foster homes." The judge said looking at me like I was a troublemaker.
"Well, that's not really my fault." I defended against her stare.
"And whose is it? Surely you're not saying it's the 7 different families who tried to take you in." She asked looking exasperated.
That's exactly what I'm saying, I thought. Had she never been in one of these homes? Obviously not. "No, I mean I wanted a good home, the state of Oregon just hasn't provided me with one." I told her as my voice started to shake and I flushed. This wasn't going well.
"So you have no permanent place of residence as of today?" She asked.
"Well, as soon as my petition is granted, there's a studio not far from my school." I told her the confidence coming back into my voice.
She dropped my file and crossed her arms. "And how can you afford an apartment? On what income?"
"I have three-thousand dollars in the bank." I said becoming more assertive.
"And who's going to co-sign your rental agreement?" She asked looking exasperated again. What was this women's problem?
I gave a shaky laugh. "The whole point of being emancipated is that I won't need it co-signed."
"No landlord is going to rent to a minor." She closed my file. No, no, no! My head screamed. She already made up her mind.
"I'll co-sign it, your honor." A voice called from the back of the room. I spun around and saw my mother. She was standing up and wearing an outfit similar to mine except hers was nicer. A tall man stood next to her and I sucked in a sharp breath.
He was very tall and had curly honey-blonde hair. His skin was as pale as my mothers. His eyes were a golden yellow. His face had a stern look to him and his jaw bone was prominent. His nose was prominent and he was skinny but he had well defined muscles that I could see through his white dress shirt. He had long black eyelashes. I could see what my mother meant. I did look exactly like him. He was looking at the judge right now. As I stared at him I realized he was a vampire.
The judge looked confused. "I'm sorry, who are you people."
I turned around back to the judge. "I, uh, they're…my birth parents."
She reopened my file and my heart leapt. Her mind wasn't made up! The judge flipped through my file and I glanced at my parents. My mother was staring at the judge but now my father was staring at me. We looked at each other for a long time and then he gave a small smile.
"Sir?" The judge asked.
His attention snapped back to her. "Yes?" His voice had a southern accent.
"It says here that you own your own business?"
"Co-own. My brother Emmett owns the other half of the garage."
"And it says here that you're a nurse?" she asked my mother who nodded.
"No criminal record, each in possession of a working vehicle—"
"I'm sorry, wha—what's going on here?" I asked confused.
The judge closed my file and leaned forward. "Okay, I'm going to be very straight with you. I am not granting you emancipation."
My jaw dropped and tears sprung into my eyes. The judge continued. "You have no income, you have no permanent residence, and you filed a fee waiver in order to cover your court costs."
She turned to my parents. "Now, Isabella Cullen, Jasper Whitlock are still legally your parents."
"Uh, actually they're not. I had that paper signed." I pointed out. "Jasper Whitlock maybe my biological father but his name is not present in my custody arrangements and I had my mother signed the papers yesterday, witnessed by Charlie Swan." The judge frowned and I stood up a little taller, proud of myself for out-smarting her.
"I didn't sign that paper." My mother called from behind me. I whipped around and stared at her. What did she mean she didn't sign it? She used my pen!
"I signed it as Isabella Swan. I've been married to my husband Edward Cullen for thirteen years and I took his last name. I haven't been Isabella Swan in thirteen years, I've been Isabella Cullen as legalized by the state of Washington." She called out in a strong voice. I stared at her in disbelief. I couldn't believe this. How could she do this to me?
"So," The judge continued. "Unless anyone here has an objection, I am releasing you back into their temporary joint custody. This case is dismissed." She banged her gavel down. The bang echoed in my ears and I stood there shocked.
"Next case." Her voice called and I angrily picked up my purse and stalked out of the courtroom. I past my parents but didn't stop. I marched up the large marble staircase until I reached the highest floor where I found a bench and I sat down on it stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily.
"Riley." My mom's voice said quietly.
"Go away." I said still staring at the ceiling. It had a large skylight and the rain of Oregon splashed down on it.
"Riley I can't." She whispered sounding sad.
"It's easy. Turn around, move your right foot, and then your left and keep a pattern. One foot in front of the other. I'm pretty sure there's a Christmas song about it, if you need a tutorial."
I heard my father chuckle and a dull thud and then him muttering, "Ouch."
"Riley, I'm sorry but we had too. I couldn't let you get emancipated. You're too young. You wouldn't be able to take care of yourself."
"Yep, because being in a house of vampires is much better." I nodded.
"Is that what you're afraid of? Because we won't hurt you ever—"
"It's not that." I told her.
"Then what is it?"
"I don't want parents. I don't need them. I wanted and needed them when I was 3, when I was 5, and pretty much of every year till I turned 14. I can take care of myself. I pretty much have been my entire life and now when I tried to get something I really want, you pushed it out of my grasp. And I was so close." I said quietly.
"Riley look at me." My mother's low voice said and I looked at her. She didn't look sad like I expected. She looked determined.
"I'm sorry. I am so sorry, I can keep apologizing till the world ends, and I can because I might be around that long. But I can't make up for any of that now, and I know you don't want me too but I promise you, that you will be better off with us. My mother was very flighty. I was the one who paid the bills, and cleaned the house and made sure we didn't get hurt. She wasn't a bad mother, she just wasn't mature. And that was a lot of pressure to keep on a 12 year-old. I don't want that pressure to go to you. I want to take care of you."
These weren't the words I had dreamed of my mother telling me since I was younger. These words meant more. They were more powerful because they were powerful, and sure.
I wanted to go with her. I'd wanted to go with her ever since I was little. I wanted to go with her every single mother's day. It would be so simple. I would open my mouth and say yes. But I couldn't. I wanted to but my body wouldn't let me.
"I can't I'm sorry." I gasped and ran down the stairs away from everything I'd always wanted.
Author's Note: Kind of short chapter. Only 2,804 words. Most of the dialogue I used was from Life Unexpected. Also since Renesmee was born instead of going to high-school the rest of the Cullen's opened up businesses. I know they still look young, and everybody in Forks is wondering why, but humans see what they want to see. They imagined them getting older even though they aren't really. That's all I have to say for this chapter! Please review! I love reviews!