Emily's P.O.V.
I was fighting with Edward. Not real fighting, but play fighting. We wanted to see who would win, with our extra powers and such. I was winning.
"Can you lay off the torturing pain?" Edward asked through a clenched jaw. I could tell that he was using all of his strength to stay upright and not crumble to the ground.
"Alright. But, you said to use all my powers…" I reasoned.
"I hadn't meant it quite so literally. And I hadn't known that you'd met Jane," said Edward.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said, my voice full of concern.
"Don't worry about it," he said.
Jasper had come to watch us at that point.
"What's up, Jazz?" I asked. Although I have only been here for a few days, I'm already beginning to pick up on twenty-first century speech.
"Nothing much. You?" he asked.
"Beating Edward," I said nonchalantly. Like it was something I could do in my sleep, if I could.
"I wish I could say the same, but Edward and I are pretty evenly matched," said Jasper with a chuckle.
"I bet," I responded.
There was a moment of awkward silence between Edward, Jasper, and I. Then Japer spoke.
I have a proposition that I would like you to consider, Emily," he said. He had a strange look on his face.
"What is your proposition?" I asked, puzzled.
"Well, I was talking about it with Carlisle and the rest, and…I was wondering if you would want to stay here. With us."
Edward was tactfully moving closer and closer to the woods, suspiciously studying a spruce tree.
"With you?" I asked, dumbfounded. I was weary of the reaction that the others would get.
"Yes." I didn't have to be a mind-reader to know that he was hurt by my question.
"You really have talked it over with the others?" I questioned.
"Of course. They are all perfectly fine with it," Jasper said. He still looked a little disappointed. Afraid of losing me again, I suppose.
"If the others are okay with it, then…yes," I said. "I'll stay."
"Wonderful." Jasper came and gave me a hug. I was now a Cullen.
Since I was now a Cullen, it meant spending a ridiculous amount of money on clothes, courtesy of Alice and Rose. It also meant that I would have to go to Forks High School. Not now, but at the beginning of the second semester. That means that I have five months to cram eight years of public education. So, for the next 3672 hours I will be subject to math, English, science, and geography with Esme.
The public story is that Carlisle and Esme couldn't have children, so they adopted Emmett, Alice, and Edward, who are her niece and nephews. They then adopted Jasper and Rosalie Hale, who are "twins". Edward then married Bella, and they adopted Edward's "niece", Renesmee.
Along with new designer clothes, I now have an iPod and an iPhone, which I am just now learning how to use. I kept telling everyone that I don't need those things, but they just smiled and said that they needed to keep up with the façade. I think they just wanted an excuse to give me stuff.
I was playing with my iPhone when Esme came into the living room. Rose, Alice, Bella, and Nessie were shopping, Carlisle was at work, and the boys were away, hunting.
"Emily?" she asked.
"Yes, Esme?" I replied. I had my eyes glued to my phone. I was learning how to buy Apps.
"I'd like to show you something, if you'd come with me," said Esme in her gentle, motherly voice.
"Of course," I said. Apps could wait.
I got up from where I was on the couch and followed her to a door near the stairs.
"I was talking to Jasper and we both decided that you needed your own space now that you're staying with us," she said.
"Oh, Esme, you don't have to worry about it. I'm fine," I said. I hated being spoiled.
"Too late," she said, with a small grin on her face. "Go on in." She nodded at the door.
I looked at the door warily, and then decided that I would just have to suck it up and do it. I turned the knob.
"Oh, my," I said, awestruck.
"Do you like it?" asked Esme, a hint of nervousness in her voice. As if there was a possible chance that I wouldn't like her creation.
"How could I not?" I said.
Unlike the rest of the house, shrouded in white, the rich floors were a deep mahogany. There was a large, inviting white sofa in the middle of the room, facing the door. On the same wall as the door was a white flat screen TV. The walls were painted a deep plum color. Lining the far wall was a CD rack with a copy of every CD I've listened to from Edward's collection.
"Oh, Esme, it's beautiful," I awed.
"You really like it?"
"Of course I do," I said.
"That's great. Alice picked out the color for the walls," she said.
"How did you find the time to do all this?" I said as I walked into the room.
"We fixed it up while you were away hunting with Rose and Bella. The boys moved in the furniture and painted the walls. Emmett hooked up the TV, and Jasper set up the laptop," she said as she pointed to the slim computer lying on the coffee table. "You can personalize it anyway you want to."
"You do know that I hate it when ya'll spend money on me," I said. I was uncomfortable with their carelessness with money. Maybe because I never usually had any of my own.
"If you think that this is a lot, you should see what they are planning for you for Christmas," Esme said.
Oh, no… I thought to myself.
Esme laughed from the shocked look on my face, "Don't worry. It's nothing that you won't like."
"That's not what I'm worried about. I guess I'm just not used to people spending money on me." I said. Esme gave me a smile, patted my shoulder, and made her way to her study.
All this time I was concerned with the petty and material things, when I should be worried about more pressing matters. How long would it be until Aro tracks me down again? I really shouldn't have dragged Jasper and the rest into my mess, but getting to know him again was just so exciting. Didn't Aro want Alice and Edward as much as he wanted me? No. He wanted me more. I knew that much. I knew Aro had tried to wipe out the Cullens about a year ago, but now that I was a Cullen, he would stop at nothing to add Edward, Alice, and I to his collection.
Later, when everyone was home and they had bombarded me with questions about my room, we all "decided" that we needed some "family bonding". Meaning, Emmett bugged us all about wanting to play a game or two of baseball. Needing thunder to play, Alice assured us all that it would be storming in town.
So we all bounded off for the clearing with Emmett, Jasper, and Alice in the lead, and Bella and Nessie bringing up the rear. Jacob had patrol tonight.
It was the bottom of the ninth, two outs with Jasper at bat. Carlisle, Rosalie, Edward, and Bella were playing against Jasper, Emmett, Alice, and me. Nessie was sitting on a big boulder, helping Esme play referee. Alice was on third and I was at first base. If Jasper hit this one and Edward didn't catch it, we would win. Our chances weren't looking so good. Then, I heard the sound of a drop of water hitting a leaf, not too far away. It gave me an idea.
"Hey, Jasper?" I called. I stood straight, instead of crouched. The others looked at me, puzzled.
"Yes, Emily?" Jasper replied. He was standing patiently at home plate.
Then, out of the blue, I wasn't on the field anymore. Well, my body was. At the moment, I was looking down on the field from above. I saw our family running through the forest in the rain, soaking wet. Just flashes of color. So blindingly fast.
My mind was pulled back to my body with a snap. That must have been one of Alice's visions.
"I could feel that I wasn't the only one seeing a vision this time, Emily," Alice said. "You can do that?"
"Yes," I answered. "But I'll explain it to you later."
"What was it that you wanted to tell me, Emily?" asked Jasper.
"Oh, nothing," I said, strolling lazily from the field. "I was only wondering if you would be up for a race. It will start raining soon." I gave him that coy smile that he knew would only result in a challenge.
"You're on," he growled, and sprang for the trees.
I couldn't let him get far, so I bounded after him, leaving the confused laughter of my family behind me. Everything was a slight blur as I followed Jasper's trail. The trees were splashes of color, and the forest floor was springy under my light feet. Jasper's trail led directly to the house. I would go the roundabout way, the way he would least expect.
The house was straight ahead, and I could see Jasper standing on the porch with a smug expression upon his face. I bounced up the steps and joined him. Jasper glanced up at the sky. It was raining fairly hard now.
Where were the others? Surely, it wouldn't take them this long to return. Just then, I heard the sound of crunching leaves and the occasional snapping of a tree, courtesy of Emmett, I'm sure. A second or two later, all of the Cullens made their way out of the woods and onto the porch. They were all dripping with rain.
"Why'd you guys run off like that?" asked Alice. She had a mix of amusement and suspicion on her face.
"So we wouldn't get wet. Because, right now, ya'll look like drowned cats," I said.
"And I couldn't pass up the chance to beat Emily in a race," Jasper added. I smacked him upside the head.