The Elusive Emma FINALLY updates! Trust me, I'm more surprised than you are. The worst part is, I have no excuse other than pure laziness. Yes, I will be checking behind me for the angry mob with pitchforks.
Dear readers, I have a little game for you. It may work, it may not, but we won't know unless we try. So, here it is... I will include the lyrics of ONE SONG in every chapter (unless I specify otherwise) and you guys have to guess what it is. Sounds simple, right? WRONG! There will only be a couple of lines - sometimes it will be really obvious, other times not do much - and you have to guess song name and/or artist. For a first one, this is quite difficult... Sorry :P
Disclaimer: I don't...
Emmett: Hey, Emma, what's a disclaimer?
Me: You would know if you hadn't interrupted. Now shut up.
Emmett: *tries to talk and can't*
Me: I don't own Twilight.
Emmett: How did you make me shut up like that?
Me: I'm the author. I make you do what I want - Cough being sicked on by Bella cough-
Emmett: But you don't own us and... WAIT! YOU MADE BELLA DO THAT?!
Me: Hehe... yes?
So, while I am being chased by a bloodthirsty Emmett, you guys can read the next chapter (It is very short, sorry, but my chapters usually are)
New Kids
Rosalie
We were moving again, to another small, rainy, boring town, as insignificant as almost every other we have lived in. Almost – the exception being Healy, in which we had found the little angel, who was currently chewing yet another plastic toy, trying to alleviate the pain of her new teeth.
She sat in her little car seat, in the back of my BMW, staring out of the window while she chewed absent-mindedly. I wondered what she was thinking – did babies have coherent thoughts? I couldn't remember being that young – obviously – and I doubted any human did either. I resolved to ask Edward about it later. He would know.
I loved Bella, loved her innocence. I felt so protective; we all did. Every single one of us would endure hell if it meant that Bella never knew pain, never knew fear. I prayed that she would never know what I went through, would never have to experience it for herself. No one deserved that. I hated what I was, hated the events that had brought me here. If I could change, I would; take back the pain, I would; retrace every wrong move that I made, I would.
But I couldn't. I had to make the most of what I had. I had a caring family, a loving mate, and a beautiful baby girl to care for. What more did I need?
Oh, who was I kidding? I detested being this, hated my existence, and resented my beauty. I glanced back at Bella. She was beautiful, and I would personally ensure that no one ever gave her cause to resent it.
****
Esme
We moved into our new house when Bella was eleven months old. She could make herself understood, even though she couldn't talk fluidly – or coherently sometimes – but she couldn't yet walk without holding onto someone's hand or sitting in her walker. When we arrived it was clear that she wanted to go and look around, but all she could do was crawl on all fours. She could just about stand up; with support, but whenever she tried to walk, she just fell over. I had asked Alice about it, and she said not to panic; Bella would grow out of it, sort of. The ending worried me slightly, but I tried not to dwell on it for too long.
After putting everything in his room, Edward sat down with Bella on one of the cream leather sofas and started reading 'The Cats Of Tiffany Street'.
"And Shadow the stray, who wandered all day, searching and searching for somewhere to stay," Edward read to Bella, who traced the picture with delicate fingers.
Emmett walked up behind them. "Hey Bella, what sound does a cat make? Come on, Bells, repeat after me; MEE-OWW!" Emmett meowed at the top of his voice, dragging it out.
"Meow," Bella mimicked, laughing. She probably hadn't understood what Emmett had said, but she liked to try to copy people. Edward joined in, playing along. "Hey Bella, what is Emmett? Come on, Bells, repeat after me; cuckoo, cuckoo."
Bella tried to imitate Edward, but couldn't seem to frame the sound. Her face furrowed as she concentrated, but she just couldn't say it.
Watching her, I felt a familiar wave of sadness, of mourning for my little baby. Sometimes, I remember the darkness of my past; bringing back these memories I wish I didn't have. But I always smile and push on through. I had to be happy for Bella. She had found a loving, caring family after everything that had happened to her, and she couldn't find another group of people who would love her more.
Alice sat on the floor, sorting through a pack of tarot cards. She liked seeing if their predictions matched her own; often they were a load of twaddle, but she found them amusing.
"Ali!" Bella cried. Alice just looked up and smiled, not coming any closer. Bella squirmed in Edward's arms, and he set her on the ground after a cursory glance at Alice. Bella struggled to stand up, before toddling the few feet separating her from Alice. She lost her footing just before reaching her destination, but Alice swooped her up, laughing. Bella pouted and pointed imperiously at the cards, staring at the pictures she apparently found so fascinating. Alice held them up to her and pretended to read them.
"Hmmm… well if I am reading this correctly then you will fall in love with someone dedicated… romantic… reliable… and Carlisle will have financial difficulties this week, because I am going to take you shopping."
Edward raised his eyebrows. "And you can tell all of that from reading the tarot cards?"
She stuck her tongue out in return. "Who needs tarot cards when you have Mystique Alice to divine your future for you?"
"What else do you see, All-Knowing-One?" Emmett asked, looking totally serious. Alice pretended to think. "I see that we will be starting school tomorrow, so I will have to choose the perfect first-impression outfits for you all."
*****
Emmett
NO! Please, anything but school. I had had enough of school. I KNEW EVERYTHING! But no one would listen or believe me. So, I was stuck, going to that hellhole every day until we moved, and then starting ALL OVER AGAIN! I couldn't wait till Bells started school. It would be funny, though if anyone teased her, I would have to personally terrorize them. I hoped it wouldn't come to that, especially if they were like, five years old or something.
My first lesson was Gym, which was just insulting. The coach looked me over once, and told me to go with a load of humans who were at least half my size, possibly smaller. It was just patronizing. I sulked the entire time.
Spanish was a monotonous as ever. I didn't speak once from the time the teacher greeted us with 'Buenos días, clase. En silencio, sentarse (A/N: Is that how you spell it? I looked it up on Google Translate. Google is my friend), por favor', till the bell rang signifying the end of class; all I did was think of Rose.
When I met the others for lunch, I noticed that Edward was looking slightly green.
What's on your mind, mind reader? He growled softly.
"Spanish was boring, wasn't it?" He muttered, his face revolted.
"Mm-hm," I said, enjoying the annoyed look that crossed his face. We walked into the canteen together, acting as though we couldn't hear the hushed whispers that quieted every time we passed.
'Wow, they look like supermodels…' 'OMG, have you seen the guys?' 'Damn, I wish I looked like that…' 'Don't they, like, live together? And they're together? Isn't that, like, illegal?' And so on, and so forth.
None of us ate the food that we bought. Alice stared at hers; Jasper, Rose and I ignored ours, while Edward shredded his.
Hey, the lettuce has feelings too, I thought indignantly. Edward raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Neither did he stop shredding the lettuce. Honestly, some people are just impossible.
Like the humans at his school. No matter how many little signs there were; pale, cold skin, never eating, never around blood, they never worked out what we were. I couldn't wait to get home and see Bella. Now there was a real human.
Yeah, there was a real human. A human whose sole purpose in life appeared to be humiliating me. First of all, I played dolls with her; that wasn't so bad, I had done that a thousand times before, and occasionally (OK, almost every time) I enjoyed myself. But then someone – not naming names, mister E.A.M.C – thought that it would be a good idea to read to Bella.
Beauty and the Beast. And Ed... Mister no-name, thought that it would be a good idea if we acted it out, to give Bella something to look at while he read.
And guess who got to be the Beast? I'll give you a clue; Jasper was Gaston, Carlisle was Belle's father and Edward was reading.
Yep. Me.
So I lumbered around, growling playfully and staring at Rose, who was Belle. Me 'in my natural state' as Edward and Jasper put it. Bella seemed to enjoy it though, and that was the whole point, the only thing that mattered, no matter how embarrassed or annoyed I might be.
Right?
