A/N: Bonjourno everybody! I think we are on better time than last update, which is good. Anyways, get this . . . I just got back from Volterra. It was pretty cool. But, sadly, there is no fountain in the middle of the piazza . . . And the clock tower is right beside the entrance to the city, not across the piazza. But, either way, it was still really neat.

Anyways, here is the next chapter, which I think, is a another fun one.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, except for all of the original characters that are going to be introduced.

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Day Five: The Walling's Home

Esme had just learned that she was to host a dinner party at the Walling's home to get to know their friends and the family better. She had no problem with this. Esme loved entertaining and it was something she very rarely got to undertake. The family did not have any friends back home in Forks, and Tanya's family only rarely came for visits. She was very excited, not only to meet some new people, but to put on a good show, as well. Most of the family was still asleep, but Esme was already planning elaborate dishes and fancy decorations.

When the family, well, Sandra and Andy, finally emerged from their rooms Esme made the exciting announcement.

"Well, everyone, tonight we are supposed to hold a dinner party. I will handle all the cooking and decorating, you guys just need to invite lots of your friends and maybe spruce up the house a little bit, okay?"

"Umm, okay, that sounds . . . reasonable. Right, kids? Let's get on the phones before everyone is busy."

Andy and Sandra grunted in response before slithering off the sofa to go call some of their friends.

Esme, who was still smiling widely, pranced off to borrow the van to pick up some decorations for her party extravaganza. She ended up spending $676.28 on various decorations and food items. Alice would be proud . . . Bella wound have a heart attack (if that were possible). She knew that Carlisle would be disappointedly shaking his head when he got the credit card bill, but this was necessary. She really wanted to put on a good party for her new family.

In the end, there were two families coming to Esme's party. They were all very close friends of the family. Esme was extremely excited about meeting them. She had been preparing for hours and, finally, everything was finished. She had cooked six steaks, prepared three different ways, five chicken breasts that were each marinated in a different way and served with different garnishes and sides, two different salads, one with many different kinds of fruits and the other with vegetables. One large bowl of pasta, and three different sauces, a tomato sauce, a cream sauce and a pesto sauce, so each person could prepare their own the way they wished. She had cooked from scratch four loaves of bread, two were garlic and the others were baguettes. She had bought seven bottles of wine, the most recommended by the clerk working at the liquor store. And, finally, she had cooked two different pies, an apple cinnamon, a pecan fudge and a classic cheesecake, for dessert.

The small backyard was decorated with thousands of small twinkling lights. They lined the old, wooden fences and hung around the door and the back side of the house. She had bought a few tiki lamps that were placed around the backyard. The glow of the lights and the lamps was very relaxing and comforting. She had bought a new white, lacy table cloth and was currently placing plates, silverware and wine glasses around the table. She was just placing the last napkin in its spot when she heard the old doorbell ring.

She rushed inside to see three people entering the house, giving friendly greetings to the Walling family. She rushed over to introduce herself.

"Hello, I'm Esme." She said with a pleasant smile gracing her features. The first to approach her was a very short, thin man. He was probably no taller that five feet, six inches and had thinning brown hair on the top of his head in which he tried to cover up with a small combover. He had large, grandpa-style glasses and was wearing a red, fleece sweatshirt.

"Why, hello there, miss, The name's Roger Foderer, not to be confused with Roger Federer, I'm much more of a badminton man, myself." He reached out to shake Esme's hand.

"Oh, I've never really tried either . . ." Esme replied. Roger was about to say something in return, but Jim excitedly interrupted, telling Roger about a new model he had just received in the mail. The woman approached Esme next.

"Oh, don't you worry about them! They're coo coo for planes!" She snorted and laughed at her own joke. She was also rather short, no taller than five feet, four inches. She was a little bit on plump side, but in no means overweight. She had short, obviously died, black hair. It was cut into a very boyish, but not very fashionable style. She wore a black, sequined, sleeveless top and a pair of black slacks. "My name's Beatrice, Bea for short. It's very nice to meet you!"

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine." Esme replied, smiling. The last to introduce herself was a young girl. She looked to be about seventeen years old and had a full head of thick, dark, loose curls cascading down her shoulders. She was very pretty, with soft, but striking features. She, like her parents, was on the short side. She was about five feet, three inches and wore a yellow, babydoll top with intricate, brown designs lining the neckline, a dark pair of straight leg jeans and a tasteful amount of jewelry. She walked up to Esme to introduce herself.

"Hello, Esme, I'm Camellia, you can call me Cam, most people do."

"It's very nice to meet you, Cam." Esme said in return. Cam sounded like a very nice young lady.

It was not long before the second family arrived. Again, the husband was the first to introduce himself. He was of medium height, not as tall as Jim, but taller than Roger, and was very muscular. He somewhat resembled Emmett.

"Hello, I'm Richard." He said in an extremely deep and menacing voice.

"Hi, Richard, I'm Esme." The next to introduce herself was Richard's wife. She was very tall and very thin. The had a straight, blonde bob and rather beady eyes. She was dressed in a black top that was slightly too short and showed her stomach and a pair of old jeans.

"Hello, I am Lisa." Her introduction was curt. She quickly shook Esme's hand before moving off towards the backyard with her husband.

The next to approach Esme was a young girl, about fifteen or sixteen years of age. She had shoulder length blonde hair tucked behind her ears. She wore glasses and simple, plain clothing.

"Hi, my name is Ashley. It's very nice to meet you." Her introduction, like her mother's, was rather short. She shook Esme's hand before moving to the party in the backyard.

The last was a young boy who was about eighteen years old. He was very tall, about six feet, four inches, and dressed in very expensive clothing. He was very thin and everything he was wearing had the name of a designer somewhere on the piece of clothing. His hair was gelled into short, orderly spikes and the tips were died in striking contrast to his dark hair. He reached out his hand.

"Hello, it is very nice to meet you, my name is Byron."

"It is very nice to meet you, as well, Byron."

Byron nodded once before striding off to the backyard. Esme was very happy. They all seemed like very friendly people. She was very excited to get to know them all better. Esme quickly went to join everyone in the bedazzled backyard.

No one had seated themselves at the table yet, everyone had formed small groups and were chatting with each other on the small, stone patio. Sandy, Cam and Ashley were chatting excitedly about boys, Byron and Andy were awkwardly standing next to each other, quietly muttering things as to not seem too rude, and the parents were in a group catching up with each other, it had been a while since any of them had seen each other. Esme was standing in the doorway smiling. She enjoyed watching people have a good time. She was looking at each of the group when she noticed Andy staring at . . . Cam? Andy nor Byron were speaking, it was easy to tell that they were not good friends, they did not know each other well and did not have much to say. Byron excused himself to use the washroom and Esme made a move towards Andy.

"Who are you looking at, Andy?"

Andy jumped. He had not heard Esme approach and it startled him to hear her voice next to him.

"No one." He said quickly, trying to cover up the fact that he was indeed staring, but only making the fact more obvious.

"She's very pretty, isn't she? You should go talk to her. I'll bet she'll like it."

Andy didn't say anything. He was too embarrassed at being caught staring at the object of his affections. He just looked down at his feet, trying not to turn too red. Esme nudged his shoulder in the direction of the girls. She was about to get everyone to sit down and knew that if Andy started moving in that direction he would end up beside Cam.

"Well," She said in a louder voice while hip checking Andy closer to the circle of females, "shall we start dinner?"

There was a positive mumble in the crowd and everyone started to move in the direction of the table. Esme gave Andy one more shove before disappearing into the house to grab as many plates as she thought was humanly possible. When she came back out she was pleased to see Andy sitting next to Cam. She proceeded to place the many plates and bowls of food on the plastic, backyard table. She sat directly across from Andy.

"So, Esme," Esme knew who was speaking immediately because of the deep voice that asked the question. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from a small town call Forks in northern Washington."

"Doesn't it rain a lot there?" Richard asked. After receiving a nod, he continued with his next question. "What do you do for a living?"

"I stay at home, I have six adopted teenagers, so someone has to do the work around the house, but I do take part in a few small interior design or architectural projects every once and a while. What do you do?"

"I'm a personal trainer. But -" He was about to say something else, but was interrupted by his wife.

"Six teenagers! I only have two and I want to strangle them on a regular basis!" Ashley and Byron looked very offended as she continued with her rant. " How is it possible that you still have a full head of hair!?"

"Oh . . ." Esme was shocked by Lisa's outburst. "They're very well behaved kids. We all get along rather well."

Lisa snorted and looked extremely skeptical. She was positive Esme was lying, 'behaved teenagers' was an oxymoron. There was no such thing. She was sure that Esme must be one of those mothers who just spends all day at an expensive spa that 99% of America could not afford.

Esme turned to Roger and Bea.

"What do you two do for a living?" She asked.

"Well," Roger started proudly, "I'm a professional badminton player, but on the side I own a custom coffee mug shop. Actually," he said, reaching behind him, "I brought this for you." He handed Esme a plain white, medium sized mug that had 'World's Best Replacement Mom' printed on the side.

"Oh, my goodness, this is so nice of you!" Esme thanked them, she was genuinely sad she would never be able to use the beautiful mug.

"It was nothing!" Bea replied, "we thought we should bring something for this woman who was hosting such an extravagant party. This really is a wonderful meal, where did you lean to cook like this?"

"From my son, Edward, actually. He enjoys cooking, so I asked him to teach me a few of his tricks."

"A son that likes to cook. I sure wish I had one of those." Lisa said looking pointedly at Byron, who's face when blank at the mention of himself and cooking.

Esme decided to say not much further, just a few questions to Byron, Ashley and Cam. Soon the table fell into effortless conversation between friends. Esme looked up after taking a pretend bite of chicken and noticed that neither Cam nor Andy were speaking to anyone. She caught Andy's eye and silently persuaded him to start a conversation with Cam. He continually shook his head until Esme's pleading became too much to resist. A defeated look came upon his face and he turned towards Cam, asking her a question about school. She turned towards him and happily answered his question. Esme smiled, knowing she had done a good thing.

The party continued in the same effortless fashion. People flowed easily from conversation to conversation. It was friendly chatter and Esme was happy that Andy was still talking with Cam, and she seemed to be enjoying herself as much as he was. It was obvious that he was beginning to let his guard down. He was abandoning the sulky teenager attitude and becoming a much more fun and open person. Cam would even laugh every once and a while at one of his jokes.

The party continued until about one thirty in the morning when Lisa announced that she had a big presentation the next morning and needed her sleep. She curtly thanked Esme for the party, and then said she would be waiting in the car and her family 'better not take too long to show up'.

"Thanks for the great party, Esme. You sure know how to throw 'em. It was very nice to meet you. If your body ever needs sculpting, you give me a call." He said as he shook her hand and very slyly handed her a business card. Esme gave a quiet laugh because she knew she could never be 'sculpted' more than she already was. After some more quieter and politer goodbyes from Byron and Ashley, the family departed from the small suburban house.

It was not long before the Foderer family announced that they better be going as well.

"Well, Esme, that was just wonderful. If I'm ever playing a match of badminton near Forks I would sure love it if you could come watch."

"I would love that, Roger." Esme replied, "and thank you so much for the mug. It's lovely."

"It sure was nice to meet you, hun" Bea said as she gave Esme a quick hug goodbye.

"Thank you very much for dinner, Esme, it was lovely," Cam said before turning to Andy. "Goodbye, Andy." She gave him a small wave before following her parents out the door. Andy shyly raised his hand too late in response. Sandra looked slightly shocked in his direction. Esme just smiled.

"Esme, that was just wonderful. Thank you for doing so much for this family." Jim said to her.

"It's nothing, really." Esme replied. She was extremely happy that she was able to do such wonderful things for this family. She really had grown quite attached to them. It was nice to know she was making the impact she wanted.

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A/N: Well, that chapter was rather enjoyable. It was fun. Just so you know, I go into writing these chapters with absolutely no plan. I just pull them right out of no where, so maybe that is why my updates are so few and far between, I'm sorry about that.

You know I adore hearing from you. So don't hesitate to click that wee button at the bottom of your screen.

Until next time,

tanis ann

Just a little tidbit for you, the scientific name for your collar bone is the clavicle.