Chapter 30. The Rules Of Dating At Age Thirteen

"Mom, we're just going to see a movie not to prom." I complain as she tries to force me in a dress.

"I just want you to look nice for your first date!" Alice said.

"What was wrong with what I was wearing?" I demanded.

"If you won't wear a dress, at least put on a skirt?" Alice begged, ignoring my question.

"I can dress myself, Mom. I don't want to wear a skirt." I said.

"But-" She tried.

"If I let you do my hair and make-up, can I choose my own outfit?" I offer.

Alice sighed, "Fine. But I have to approve your outfit!"

"Whatever." I said, and I push her out of the room so I can choose in peace. It's hot out, so I choose a pair of frayed light denim jean shorts and a floaty light pink top with a brown plaited belt around the waist. The top isn't short enough to show my belly button, but it leaves a strip of skin between the shorts and the top. I slip brown peep-toe flat shoes on my feet to complete the outfit.

Alice comes in and approves my outfit, then ties my hair into what she calls an "effortless-and-not-trying-too-hard-but-still-super-cute" braid that came down over one shoulder. Then she puts a light pink eye shadow on my eye lids, topped with a little mascara, and rubs a tiny bit of pink blusher onto my cheeks.

I text Max as we leave, and he texts me back when I'm halfway to the theatre saying he's five minutes away. He's standing outside when Alice pulls the car up to the edge of the street. She turns to me.

"Be sensible, Daisy." Alice said, "No kissing."

"Mom!" I protest.

"Daisy!" She replied. I roll my eyes and step out of the car, "I mean it, Daisy!"

I shut the door, then smile as I walk over to Max, "Hey."

"Hey yourself." He said.

"I'm sorry about earlier." I said, "As if one crazy, embarrassing sister wasn't enough..."

Max laughed, "It's fine. You look amazing."

I blush, "Thanks..."

"I figured we'd watch the movie first, then grab something to eat afterwards?" Max said. I nodded, "I wasn't sure what you'd want to see, so I went classic. Gone With The Wind is showing."

I'd never seen it before, but I'd heard of it. I was kinda surprised that Max had gone for a romance.

We watched the movie, every so often our hands brushing against each other and we'd pull them away shyly and smile. The movie was great, and it would be the spark to my love of classical movies. After the movie's over, we start walking down the street. We're both pretty full from popcorn and candy, so we just get hot dogs from a vendor and walk and talk as we eat them.

"There's so many stars out tonight." Max comments, pointing up to the sky.

I look up and see a million diamonds reflecting back at me, "That's beautiful."

"I'm sure the weather forecast said it was going to be cloudy tonight. It might have even said rain." Max said with a frown, "But the sky is completely clear. Weird!"

I try not to make eye contact as I think about how that was probably my fault. My weather gift was still pretty strongly influenced by the emotions, even if I was learning to control it a little. Tonight I was happy - beyond happy - and so the weather was happy. If it were during the day there'd be a blazing sun in the sky.

"I wish I knew about stars, then I could do that cute cheesy guy thing where I point out the different constellations." Max said.

I point up to the sky, "There's Cygnus, the group of stars that connect to make a swan." I move my finger, "And over there is Gemini, the one that looks like two stick people holding hands."

"Alright, alright." Max said, "You did the cute cheesy guy move. You're a better boyfriend than I am."

"Boyfriend?" I ask with a blush.

Max smiled at me, "If you'd like."

I can't control my grin, "I would."

We both look at each other for a second and then somehow we're kissing. It's sloppy and unorganised and unpractised but it's magical and it's perfect. My first kiss.

~o.O.o~

When I get home I'm in an unbelievably happy mood. I skip over the doorstep with Alice trailing behind me asking repeated questions about how it went.

When we walk into the living room, Jasper's sat on the couch. He raised an eyebrow, "Where have you been?"

He'd been out when I left earlier, so I assumed he didn't know where I'd been. Before I could answer, Rosalie did it for me, "She had a date! How is loverboy?"

"A date?" Jasper asked, his eyebrows flying up even higher, "You went on a date?"

"Yeah..." I said.

"Jazz, don't." Alice said, though I wasn't sure what she meant until Jasper started speaking again.

"You're far too young to be dating, Daisy. I won't have it." He said.

"What?" I cried, "Jazz, I'm thirteen!"

"Exactly." Jasper said, "The answer is no."

"I didn't ask your permission!" I said, raising my voice.

"You'll have to tell this boy you just want to be friends." Jasper said calmly.

"Well I've already told him I want to be more than friends." I yelled, "And there's nothing you can do about it."

I start storming out of the room when Jasper yells at me. He never yells at me. "Daisy-May Cullen get back here now." I stop and turn around. Jasper lowers his voice, but his anger is still very present, "I will not have you speak to me like that and I will not have you dating this boy. Do you understand?"

"That's not fair!" I protested, "It's my life!"

"This isn't up for discussion, Daisy. Go to your room." Jasper said.

I glare at him and stamp my feet as I go up the stairs to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. A little while later, I hear Alice and Rosalie talking outside my room. Alice says, "I should talk to her. I'm her mother."

"Believe it or not, Alice, it's pretty hard to talk to your parents about your parents." Rosalie said, "She's not going to want to talk to you about Jasper. She knows you'll take his side."

"I would not!" Alice protested.

"Alice, you have to take his side. Parents work as a team, which means they have to be on the same side." Rosalie said.

"I don't need advice from you about parenting." Alice snapped. It went quiet for a second, and I expect Rosalie was thinking about Alice's choice of wording. Alice didn't need advice 'from Rosalie' because Rosalie wasn't a parent.

"I'll talk to her." Rosalie said after a pause, "She'll be more comfortable."

"Fine." Alice gave in, "I'm going to go down to the cottage and try and talk some sense into Jazz."

Alice leaves and Rosalie knocked on my door, "Daisy? You awake?"

"Yeah." I call back. She comes inside.

"You okay?" She asked. I glance at the floor, thinking about everyone else downstairs, and she seems to read my mind, "Everyone else is out. We can talk properly."

"No I'm not okay." I said.

Rosalie sits at the edge of my bed, "Wanna talk about it?"

I shrug, "I know what you'll say; Jazz is my Dad and he's only doing this because he loves me and wants to protect me and even if I don't think it's the right thing, it probably is because he's the adult and he knows best."

"I wasn't going to say any of that." Rosalie said, "What I was going to say was that I think Jasper is being totally ridiculous and unfair." I stared at her, "Look, he does love you and he is doing this because he wants to protect you and he thinks this is the way to go about it. It's not, but that's what his silly little man mind thinks."

"That doesn't make it better." I said.

"I know." Rosalie said, "But, unfortunately, you live with a bunch of stupidly overprotective men. You learn to live with it, trust me."

I laughed, "No one bosses you around Rosalie, you have total authority."

Rosalie raised one perfectly-manicured eyebrow, "You don't think I'd do anything Carlisle asked me, even if I didn't like it? Why d'you think I still go to school? He's like a father to me, just like Jasper is to you."

I flop back onto the bed with a sigh, "This is all very well, Rosalie, but it doesn't really help my situation."

Rosalie flops down beside me, "I guess we'll have to think of a way to convince Jasper to change his mind."

I scoffed, "Good luck with that."

Neither of us speaks for a moment, deep in thought. Then Rosalie said, "How did it go? The date?"

"It was magical." I told her, "He asked me if I wanted him to be my boyfriend and then we kissed under the stars."

Rosalie nudged me and aww-ed. "Well, we certainly can't let Jasper stand in the way of you and your first boyfriend, can we?" She took my hand, "I promise I'll sort it out, Daisy."

I smile and she smiles back.

"I heard you and Alice talking outside." I said, thinking about the hurt in Rosalie's voice after Alice had basically reminded her that Rosalie wasn't a parent.

"Oh?" Rosalie asked.

"You really want a kid, don't you?" I asked.

Rosalie sighed, "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"Nope." I said.

"I want a child more than anything." Rosalie told me, "So much it almost kills me."

"But aren't you happy with Emmett?" I asked.

"Of course I am." Rosalie said, "I'm happy, but I'm incomplete."

I don't really understand, but I nod, thinking it must be one of those things I'm just too young to get.

"But let's stop talking about depressing things." Rosalie said, slapping on a bright smile, "Tell me more about this date!"

~o.O.o~

The next day I opened the door to see Max standing on our porch step. I panic, because Jasper is just one room away and I don't know what he'll do to Max if he knows he's here.

"What are you doing here?!" I asked, pushing him away from the door and closing it behind me, so we're both outside on the porch.

"Uh, you text me to come?" Max said.

"What, no I-" I search for my phone before realizing it's disappeared from my pocket. "Oh."

The door opened and Rosalie poked her head out, "Oh, good! You're here! Come on in, meet the family!"

"Rosalie." I growl under my breath, but she just smiled at me as if to say, Just go with it.

"I'm Rosalie, and you've already met Alice." Rosalie said as she gestured to where Alice was standing, open mouthed at the sight of Max in our house. "Then there's Edward and Bella, who are out with Renesmee, who I think you already know. Esme and Carlisle, our parents, they're around somewhere. And here's my darling Emmett." Rosalie wraps her arms around Emmett. Then her eyes flicker to where Jasper has just appeared in the doorway, "And that's Jasper."

"And who's this?" Jasper asked, his eyes flicking suspiciously between me and Max.

"This is Max." Rosalie said, "Didn't I mention he was coming over? I thought he should meet his girlfriend's family."

I could tell that Rosalie was trying to provoke Jasper, but I couldn't tell how that was going to help matters at all.

"It's great to meet you all." Max said with a smile. Jasper glared at him.

As Rosalie swishes past Jasper, I hear her hiss in his ear, "Be nice for half an hour, will you? Give the kid a chance."

Esme comes in with a beaming smile, "Tea or coffee, anyone?"

I ask her for a coffee, and so do Rosalie and Emmett, for appearances, I assume. Esme smiles at Max, "Anything for you, Max?"

I frown at how Esme knows his name without being introduced. Someone has been talking about me.

"I'll take a coffee, please, ma'am." Max said. He'll get points for that politeness, with my old fashioned family.

We sit in the living room and sip our drinks. I'm sat in between Rosalie and Emmett on the big sofa, Max is in the little arm chair, Carlisle and Esme sit together, and Alice and Jasper sit directly across from Max on the last couch. Alice is almost bouncing in her seat, and Jasper is sat still, glaring at Max.

"So, Max." Carlisle said to break the silence, "You're in freshman year?"

"Yes, Sir." Max said.

"What do you plan to do with your life?" Jasper asked sharply.

"Jazz, he's fourteen." Alice said with a roll of her eyes, "How is he supposed to know that yet?"

"Actually, I think I'd like to sign up for the forces when I'm eighteen." Max said. I looked across at him; I hadn't known that.

I saw that Jasper had an almost impressed look on his face. Alice jumped in her seat, "Jazz was in the army!"

Max looked at Jasper in surprise, "I thought you were still in high school."

"I am." Jasper said, quickly covering up his wife's mistake, "When I was thirteen I joined a junior army. They teach you all the skills and stuff."

"That sounds really cool." Max said, "Do they have one around here?"

"Maybe." Jasper said, acting disinterested though I could tell he was impressed by Max's enthusiasm.

"I'll look into it." Max said with a blazing smile. I couldn't tell if he was oblivious to Jasper's hatred of him, or just trying to power through it.

"Daisy's told me a lot about you, Max." Rosalie said, taking a fake sip of her coffee. I glare at her, and Max smiled.

"All good things, I hope." He said.

"Of course." Rosalie said, waving her hand dismissively. I think she was speaking more for Jasper's sake than Max's, because she was looking Jazz directly in the eye, "You seem like a great guy. She's very fond of you."

"Rosalie." I hiss under my breath. She smiles at me.

"I'm only telling the truth, darling." She said. Then she looked back at Jasper, "We can all see how happy you are."

I stand up, "Max, do you want to take a walk away from the house?"

"Uh.." Max glances around the room, "Sure." He stands, setting his coffee on the table, "Nice to meet you all." He smiles his charming smile and waves, then walks out of the house and down the driveway where I'm kicking the gravel up into little sprays of stones.

I stop when I see him, "Hey. Sorry about them. They're..." I trail off, "Let's walk." I take him through the forest, far enough away that we won't be spied on by vampire ears. "Okay, here's the thing. My brother, Jasper, thinks I'm like six and he totally flipped out when I told him I went on a date. Rosalie engineered this whole thing to try and get him to like you, or whatever, so he doesn't go all crazy protective and do something stupid like banning you from seeing me."

"I know." Max said.

"Hu?" I asked.

"Rosalie called me." Max said, "She told me everything, and asked that I come round and 'make a good impression'. She even told me to say that thing about the army."

"You don't really want to join the army?" I asked.

"No." He said.

"And you went along with her crazy plan why?" I asked.

He took hold of my hand, "Because I like you. I don't care how many hoops I have to jump through to get your family to approve. I'll do it, because I don't wanna lose you."

We talked for a while longer, kissed, and he went home. Then I went home and wrote down the whole event in my diary. Rosalie came upstairs a while later with a huge grin on her face.

"You know what Jasper just said to me?" She asked.

"What?" I ask, sitting up on my bed.

"That Max kid was alright." She said with a squeal. I look at her blankly, because the word 'alright' was hardly something to squeal about. "Daisy, he likes the boy, he just doesn't want to admit it. And if he likes Max, he won't stop you seeing him!"

"I hate you for the embarrassing situation you put me in today." I told her.

"Naah, you don't." She said, waving her hand in the air, "You're eternally grateful to your loving aunt."

I consider, "Yeah, I guess, a bit."

Rosalie hugs me, "Didn't I tell you I'd sort it out? I can just see you walking down the isle, Max stood at the end watching you in your beautiful white dress..."

"Uh, Rosalie, I'm thirteen." I said.

"Details." Rosalie said, and we both laughed, "Things are gunna be good from now on, Daisy, I can feel it."

I found myself believing her.

~o.O.o~

A little while later, Jasper came into my room, Alice trailing at his heels. He stood at the foot of the bed, "Daisy."

I take out my ear plugs and sit up, "Yes?"

"I still don't want you seeing this boy." Jasper said. My face fell, and I got ready to protest and scream that my life wasn't fair, when he said, "But, it has been pointed out to me that you're going to end up dating whether I like it or not, and there's not a lot I can do about it. Plus, if you're going to date, this Max seems like a decent kid."

"So I can still go out with him?" I ask, staring at my father.

"Yes." Jasper said.

"Thank you, Jazz, oh my God!" I said, hurling myself at him and throwing my arms around his neck. He stumbled back a bit, putting his arms around me for a second before setting me back down on the bed.

"I have some rules." He said. I nodded, "You have to be home by seven-thirty when you go out with him." I start to whine - my normal curfew is nine during the summer, eight even in the winter. "These rules aren't up for discussion, Daisy. If you want to keep seeing him you have to follow them." I sigh and nod, "He's not allowed upstairs, and you're not allowed in the house alone together."

"Jazz, I'm thirteen." I said, scrunching my nose at the thought of what Jasper was implying. I certainly wasn't ready for all that just yet.

"No kissing. Or...anything else." Jasper said. I rolled my eyes and didn't mention the two kisses I'd already had with Max. "You are definitely not to tell him about vampires. I don't care how in love with him you think you are."

"I'm not in love with Max." I told him, "I'm...in like with him."

"Well, whatever." Jasper said, "Not a word of it, okay?"

"Obviously." I said. It was hardly a new rule, it had been put in place with all my friends and school teachers.

Jasper looked a little lost now, "Well...I think that's all the rules I have."

"Fine." I said, "But you have to be nice to him!"

"I didn't say that." Jasper said, "I'll be nice to him when he's earned it."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever."

And truthfully, I don't even care. I'm just happy that I'm allowed to keep seeing Max. It's like Rosalie said, things really are gunna be good from now on.

~o.O.o~

"I think we need to tell her. It's not right lying to her." Esme said.

"It isn't lying." Edward said.

"Well it isn't telling the truth." Esme countered.

"We only just got her back." Alice said, "What if she leaves again?"

"I don't think she'd leave Emmett again." Bella said, "Not when she's just come back to him."

"Speaking of Emmett, what does he think?" Carlisle asked. Emmett hadn't been included in the family meeting as he was the one keeping Rosalie away.

"He's tired of keeping secrets from her. He feels like he's betraying her." I said, because I was the one Emmett had been speaking to about it.

"He'll feel worse if she leaves." Renesmee pointed out.

"Maybe she's over it." Jasper reasoned, "I mean, she came back, right? Doesn't that show that she's okay with Alice having a baby?"

"But will she be okay with me having a second one?" Alice asked, "What if you're wrong? What if she's not okay?"

"Then it will be her choice what she does next." Carlisle said, "Don't we at least owe her to let her make her own decision?"

Jasper turned to me, "It's Daisy's gift that made Alice pregnant, maybe Daisy should decide."

"Jasper, she's just a kid." Edward said.

"No, Jasper's got a point." Carlisle said, "Daisy?"

I falter, panicking with being trusted with a decision this big. "I...I think we should tell her."

Alice frowned, but she didn't argue with me. Carlisle smiled, "Okay. We'll tell her tomorrow."

The family disperse from the family meeting, but I stay sat on the couch, tapping my fingers on the arm. Did I make the right decision? What if it was too much for Rosalie to handle, what if she left again? I only just got her in my life, and I didn't want her to leave again.

Alice might be right. Rosalie might not be okay with Alice having another baby. From my conversation with Rosalie a few days ago, I could tell she wanted a baby with all her heart. How could she deal with Alice getting two when she got none?

Then it hit me.

When Rosalie gets back, I ask if she wants to help me make a cake. She agrees and we start collecting ingredients. We send Alice out to get decorations for it, because everyone else has gone out hunting.

I'm in the middle of mixing cake batter when I stop and turn to Rosalie, "I inherited Dana's gift."

"What?" Rosalie asked, looking up, a confused expression on her face.

"I can make vampires pregnant." I told her.

"You...wow..that's...incredible." She said. She looked down at her hands, her face sad. Then she looks up at smiles at me, "You're amazing, Daisy. So talented."

"Do you want me to make you pregnant?" I asked.

She doesn't move, staring at me for a second. Then she whispered, "Really?" I nod. "Oh, Daisy. I've never wanted anything more in my entire life."

I hear Alice coming through the front door, so I put a finger to my lips, "Not now. Soon."

Rosalie's whole expression is lit up with such joy that I can't even begin to regret telling her. I know how much happiness it's going to bring her, and so in turn bring me.

That's how I fell in love with using my gift.

A/N: Ugh I'm really not happy with this chapter but I spent so long trying to perfect it that I gave up...I know it's all kinda smushed together and stuff but I was tired of doing filler chapters and just wanted to get some actual content into this chap. It turned out quite long though, so I guess that's a bonus.

SO, anyway, Rosalie's gunna be pregnant soon, which I know a lot of you are excited about! :) So excited you might leave me a review...? ;) Thank you SOOO much to everyone who's been reviewing because it's almost at THREE HUNDRED REVIEWS :D like, what?!

I also can't believe I'm already at chapter thirty, but that's the way it goes, I suppose.

Anyway, hope you liked the chapter. As always, those who review get a sneak peak before I update and you also make my day ;)

I start school again tomorrow so updates may be a little less often, but I'll try and get chapters up as soon as possible! Bye for now :)