Chapter Two

After All These Years

Alicia opened her mouth in shock, but did not answer.
"Umm, Ms. Johnson?" Yuuki asked. She's calmer than me and my mom put together. "I'm Yuuki…and this is Emberlynne…you should remember her…I mean, she's your daughter."

"No, that's impossible Yuuki and Emberlynne are in Texas… Who are you people?!" Alicia demanded. "I am going to send you back where you came from!"

I had tears in my eyes. "Mom…there's trouble at home. It's not even home anymore! Don't send us back there! Valerie… Mom! Valerie died!" I screamed. I couldn't keep it bottled inside anymore, and Alicia was going to send us back there.

Yuuki, too, had tears in her eyes, while she just nodded as I rambled on about the troubles at home.
Alicia just looked at me with her eyes. But there was something different about them… they seemed to be filled with sadness and love.
She hugged the both of us, for we were crying miserably now.
I felt that there were tears dropping on my shirt, but they weren't only mine, they were my mother's and best friend's too.
"W-w-we ran away." Yuuki stammered. "We wondered if you could help us find a house…"
"Good gracious, no! You are going to stay with me! We need to get you to school, my goodness, are you crazy? You still need to finish your schooling!" Alicia scolded us.
I felt a smile tug at my lips. There she goes, going all 'mom' on us.
Yuuki nodded towards Alicia. "Okay, we'll stay. Right, Emberlynne?"

I, of course, agreed.

"So, it's all settled. Oh, gosh. We have to get you two cars!" Alicia said to us.
We just stared at her in disbelief. "Cars?"
"We were hoping to save the money for…" Yuuki started, but what were we going to save them for?
"Oh no! You aren't going to buy it, I am! I mean, I do great in the stock market. Thanks to Alice, it's like she's psychic." Alicia said, whispering the last part so that we were not meant to hear.

She zoned out for a while, and then came back to earth.
"But! No! We'll buy our own things!" Yuuki and I protested. We hated it when adults think that we weren't responsible, and just bought our own stuff.
Alicia didn't object. All she said was:

"Okay! So, on our way to town!" Alicia said happily.
We all piled into the car, and I couldn't believe that only a few minutes ago, we were crying our hearts out…times flies by fast.
"So, after all these years… what have you guys been doing?" Alicia asked conversably.
"Well, we both got jobs…" I said to her.
"Yeah! At the same place…" Yuuki continued on.
"The roller skating rink down by our place." Yuuki and I said in unison, and we turned our heads to look at each other, and burst out laughing.
My mom gave us a look that said 'Where'd you inherit your craziness?'
"Don't worry Mom, we learned the best from you!" I said to her. Yuuki laughed along with me. It felt so good to call Alicia, 'Mom'…

We talked and talked for what felt like for hours, and it turned out that we did.
"Okay, so here's a great place for cars! And motorcycles!" Alicia said to us.
Whoa. Seattle. We're in Seattle!
Alicia walked us through the buildings, and out, finding the right kind of car for us.
"It's beautiful…" I said.
I was staring at a pure black motorcycle, it just screamed out my name.
"Emberlynne…" My mother said warningly to me. "It's dangerous."
"I'll pay for it myself!" I said in defense. Anything to get that beautiful bike.
Alicia just sighed in defeat…my mom had always been a total pushover.
My mom and I were looking around, trying to find Yuuki. I went around the whole place, just to find her in a black convertible.
"It feels so comfortable in here! The seats are so cool! And look! Cup holders that come out on a push of a button!" Yuuki said in excitement.

I had expected just this, well, except for the cup holder thing, but I did know it had to have a 'cool' stupid feature.
"It can go over 200 miles an hour!" Yuuki said again, as she looked at the speedometer.
That caught my interest, it did go over 200!
"The perfect car for a clean getaway." Yuuki said, praising the car.
My mother found us both just sitting in the car, pretending we were actually driving.
"Ooh, Yuuki! Great choice!" My mother complimented.
Yuuki and I both grinned; of course it was a great choice… Yuuki chose it. 
So we talked to the car salesman, and he made a deal with us.
My mother then started to ask Yuuki and me to leave, we did, and when we went outside, there was a great surprise to us.
Yuuki's car and my bike ready to go! When I had my 16th birthday, one of my close friends was going to be an engineer when he grew up, and a great one at that!
He was bragging of how he could do these things, we didn't believe him. He showed us the tricks, and man, were we wrong! He had the right to brag, no, not only the right, he had to brag!
He actually taught all of us (there were actually only three, not including our guy friend, me, Yuuki, and this other dude named Nathan.) how to ride the motorcycles, but Nathan, already knew too. Yuuki and I were the only people left to go, and so, we tried it, it was so cool! But since, Yuuki ate right before that, she reminded herself not to eat when going to ride a motorcycle again.
Man, one of my favorite memories.
I then remembered of how we were going to school on Monday. (Today is Saturday.)
Damn it… I don't want as much attention… but if I ride with Yuuki, there might be some attention drawn to that car too, but…less attention to a girl who seems breakable on a motorcycle.
FYI, I am not breakable! Or, I should say, not easily breakable.
"Okay! Let's get hom-...Gosh! I need to run by the store!" My mom chirped.
"Mom? We'll go, just give us a map and we'll find out ourselves just lead us to your house, or should I say, our house, and we'll go to the store. Yuuki and I need to get to know the place anyways." I said to my mom.
My mom, once again, nodded, and we were off.

Once we arrived at home, my mom gave us the GPS system from her car, and told us that the store was already set as our destination.
We said goodbye to her, and got into Yuuki's car. Then we turned the GPS on.
Since Yuuki was driving, she had a great sense of direction, me…I just walk around, and end up where I was supposed to be… sometimes me and Yuuki switch.
"We're here. And stop biting your nails!" Yuuki scolded me.
"You bite yours!" I protested against her.
She laughed, but didn't say anymore.
I grumbled under my breath as we walked towards the Wal-Mart.
"WAL-MART! Man, we had such a huge one on by 2920," I said reminiscing of Texas, our used-to-be home.
"Yes, we did! Now stop remembering the past, and get on with the present!" Yuuki said, dragging me by her side. "Wait! You'r- my- FOOT!" I screamed at her.

She then noticed that my foot had a bunch of scratches on it, thanks to the stupid rocks on the freaking parking lot.
She inhaled sharply. "Looks like that hurt."
"It's BLEEDING. Bloody heck man! Bloody heck!" I couldn't bring my self to say the actual word, for there were kids around us.
"Umm…it seemed that today was not the best day for you to wear flip-flops." Yuuki said sheepishly.
"…You think?!" I demanded. "…hmm. I'm fine; thank God that it's not really gushing out blood. Man. I hate the freaking smell."

I hadn't mentioned anything to Yuuki, but it felt like there were pairs of eyes, either staring at my foot, or at my head. The heated gaze made me feel uncomfortable.

"I'm really sorry." Yuuki apologized, sincerity rang in every word.

"It's alright." I said, accepting her apology. I was trying to get out of that place as fast as I could. "Let's get the things we need."

When we finished getting the food, drinks, and other necessities, we went home.

Our home. Our new home.

"…Err…So what now?" Yuuki asked my mom when we just sat watching the T.V.

"…I have already registered you for your school; you'll be going to Forks High School, no surprise there." Alicia said to us.
Her pager began to beep.
"Okay, so it seems that you either have the whole day to yourself, or you can come with me to the hospital." Alicia said, giving us our options.
I felt Yuuki freeze up next to me; I know her fear for hospitals, ever since this year.

"Um, we'll go." Yuuki said quietly.

I stared at her in silence. Sometimes, she is the bravest little person I know. I smiled mentally to myself. Thank God, my foot stopped bleeding. If it hadn't, I don't know what my mom would do!
"Okay… You guys ride in Yuuki's car." Alicia said to us.

And now we were off.
The drive to the hospital was short; it was like the hospital was just next door to us.
"So, you guys can stay in the…waiting room I guess." Alicia said.
"Is there a kid's place?" I asked her.
There are only a few things that we like about hospitals.
The Kid's Place.
The Snack Machine.
And the T.V.
"Yeah, there is." Alicia replied to us. "Go straight down this hallway, and it's on your second left."
Yuuki and I followed Alicia's directions, and we ended up there.
".Gosh. They have those thingy-majigies that change color when you touch them, the harder you press it, the darker it gets!" Yuuki exclaimed in excitement.
I noticed that they did have what she was talking about, even if she hadn't describe it well. I called it a heat pad. A pad that changes color by the temperature it's touched with.

We started playing with these things, and then got bored and watched T.V. This went on for a while.

And by a while, I mean five minutes.

"I hate hospitals." Yuuki said in a sad tone.
I sat by her and patted her on the shoulder sympathetically.

"No, not that, not right now, I mean there's nothing to do." Yuuki said bored.

I often confuse her boredness with sadness. I mean with Yuuki, who can tell the difference?

"Girls?" Alicia called over to us. She was in her uniform. "I would like you to join me right now, and get to know the hospital…"
"Okay mom! We'll be right there!" I yelled towards her.

Yuuki and I got up, and took our stuff. Then we followed Alicia.

"Oh! It's Carlisle!" Alicia said. Looking towards a person whose back was faced to us. "Carlisle!"
The man turned around.

I was absolutely surprised at how young he looked! I looked towards Yuuki; her gaze upon him was as confused as mine.

"Carlisle, this is my daughter, Emberlynne; and her friend, Yuuki." Alicia introduced us.

"Umm…Hello, Dr…Cullen." I said, uncertainly…I was trying to remember if that was his last name from what I read in the magazine on the plane. "I'm Emberlynne."
"Hello." Carlisle smiled warmly. "And you must be Yuuki, what a pleasure to meet you both. And might I add, please call me Carlisle."
He shook both of our hands, and nodded to his request.
"They both will be going to go to Forks High School, aren't your children attending there too?" Alicia asked him.

"Of course. It's the closest high school here. Hence the name." Carlisle said, chuckling. "Well, it was nice meeting you both. But I have some work to do, and hopefully my children won't give you any harm."
I thought that it was just a joke about any harm, but his face looked solemn. It didn't fit well with his face.

"Ah, I have to go too." Alicia said, looking at her pager again. "You guys head home."
Yuuki and I agreed that we were both tired.
"Man, a whole day in Forks already…" Yuuki said, while stifling a yawn.

"Yeah…Freaking A…dude, it's already 10." I said to her...
"Whoa…Okay, let's get some sleep…-" Yuuki cut her sentence off. "Is that…what I think it is…?"
I looked in the room where she was gazing at. "Holy crap! It's an arcade!!" I said my eyes wide.

I suddenly felt more awake than ever.
"It's Rock Band…2?! You've got to be kidding me!!" Yuuki said, smiling.

"I call guitar!" I said racing towards the electronic instrument.
We played on for a long while this time…about 4 hours.
"Dude, it's past 2… Your mom's not back yet." Yuuki said to me.

"I wouldn't say that." We heard a voice from upstairs.
"Mom?! How'd you get in?!" I yelled towards the voice.

"Back door. Doesn't make much noise. Went up the stairs while you were playing Paramore." Alicia said boringly, coming down the stairs.

"Oh." was all that I and Yuuki said.

Alicia yawned. "You girls need to get some sleep right now."

We agreed, and so we fell asleep in the room that Alicia set up for us.

It was a dreamless sleep that night.