"Hello?"
"Hey, Em."
"Hey, Astrid, what's up?"
"My dad said it was okay for me to test out of the 11th grade, so I think you and I will have more classes together."
"Sweet, I'll help you catch up."
"Thanks, Em, I appreciate it."
"No problem, Sunshine."
Astrid smiled at Emmett's comment, "Hey, do you want to do something this weekend?"
"Like what," Emmett asked.
"I don't know, go to the movies, hang out here at my house and eat pizza. Oh shit, you don't eat junk food, well you can watch me eat pizza."
Emmett laughed, "Are you asking me out on a date?"
There was a long pause, "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Holy shit, Astrid Swan is asking little old me out on a date."
"Shut up, do you want to do something or not," Astrid asks.
"Yes, but how about we go off-roading instead of a movie?" Emmett suggests.
"Oh, that sounds like fun. I've been desert racing before."
"It's pretty much the same thing but maybe a bit rougher."
"I don't know about that, you going flying when you go desert racing."
"Either way, it'll be fun," Emmett tells her.
"Okay then, let's do that. Tell you what, I'll even pack a lunch for us. Something high in protein so you can eat."
There was a long pause on Emmett's end, "O-Okay, I guess that's fine."
"Great. Well, goodnight, Em, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Sunshine."
The next morning when Astrid comes out of the house, she sees Edward's Volvo parked in front of the house with him leaning against it. Emmett's Jeep is parked behind him. Edward decided the night before that he was going to try to be nice to Astrid, but Emmett told him he was wasting his time.
"I'm going to try anyway," Edward tells his brother.
Astrid doesn't even bother to look at Edward as she walks toward Emmett's Jeep, "Good morning, Astrid," Edward says in a cheerful tone.
"Fuck off, Edward," She replies just as cheerfully, giving him a fake smile.
Edward frowned, he looked at Emmett whose shoulders were shaking from laughing. Edward sighs and jogs over to Astrid. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, "Don't you think we could try to get along?"
Astrid gritted her teeth, "Don't touch me," She said in a deadly voice.
Suddenly Edward yelped and pulled his hand off of Astrid's shoulder. Somehow he had received a static shock from her strong enough to hurt him. He looked at her, surprised.
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"How did you just shock me right now?"
Astrid cocked her head to the side and looked at him like he was insane, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Edward. You know what I don't have time for this. Don't touch me, don't talk to me. I don't care if you are going out with my sister. You and I will never be friends, okay? So stop annoying me."
After that, Astrid walked towards Emmett's Jeep and got in, and they drove off to school. They drove in silence for a while with Emmett now and then looking at Astrid.
"So, you're really not going to give my brother a chance?"
"Hell, no. Because of Edward's stupid ass, my sister and I got into a fight last night."
"You didn't kick Bella's ass, did you?"
Astrid laughs, "No, I wanted to but no. She just told me yelled that I wasn't her sister. That I was just some orphan, my parents found on the front steps."
"She didn't?"
"Yep."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, whether Bella meant it or not I'm not going to let it bother me. But I'm not going to forgive her that easily either."
"What did your dad say?"
"That I need to start worrying about myself and let Bella make her own mistakes."
"He's right, you know?"
"I know it's hard, Bella is so fragile."
"I know, but it's not your responsibility."
"You're right, so as of today she is on her own."
They get to school and head in to talk to the counselor. Astrid gives Ms. Reilly the note from Charlie giving Astrid permission to test out of her classes.
"I thought he might; I've made all the arrangements with the principal. You're not going to class today. You'll be taking your tests all day today. So when school starts, I need you to come back here."
"Great!"
After that, Astrid and Emmett went back outside to hang out in the parking lot. As soon as the bell rang, Emmett walked Astrid back up to the counselor's office. They stopped in front of the door and hugged.
"I'll see you at lunch?" Emmett asked.
"Yeah. See you at lunch."
Emmett hugged Astrid once more, then left for class. Astrid walks into the counselor's office and sits down. Ms. Reilly hands her the test for her English class, and Astrid got started. The exams were long and tedious, but Astrid worked hard to get through them. Ms. Reilly asked Astrid if she wanted to take a break, but Astrid asked if instead of a break if she could go to Art class instead. Ms. Reilly said that it was fine.
Jasper was surprised to see Astrid when he arrived to class, "Hello, Astrid, I thought you missed school today since you weren't in History class."
"No, I'm taking a few tests in the counselor's office today. But she let me come to Art class for a break."
Jasper nods.
When class starts, Astrid gets back to painting her of Thor. She decides that she's going to paint the throne room in gold and have guards and an audience for Thor as he came into the throne room. She had him posed with his back showing his red cape flowing, and Mjolnir raised.
Astrid was so absorbed in her painting she didn't notice Jasper and Rosalie leaning over to see what she was painting. The teacher walked by and stopped to observe.
"That is beautiful, Astrid, very detailed."
Astrid looked up, "Thank you, sir."
"Keep up the good work."
Before the teacher walked away, Astrid asked if she could stay and finish her painting. She explained that she was taking tests with the counselor and that she didn't have anything to do for her next period. He told her that if Ms. Reilly said it was fine, then she could come back.
When class ended, Astrid went back up to the counselor's office and asked if she could stay in art class and start her afternoon exams after lunch. Ms. Reilly agreed, and Astrid went back to Art class. Astrid continued to work on her painting of Thor until lunch.
By the time the bell rang, Astrid had finished her painting. She stood back to get a better look at her painting and nodded. It was perfect. Astrid then cleaned up and went off to lunch.
Astrid walked into the cafeteria, got her lunch, and sat down at an empty table. She took out her book on Greek mythology and began to read as she ate. A few minutes later Bella walks up to her.
Putting her hands on her hips, she looks down at her sister, "Why weren't you in Gym class today?"
"None of your business," Astrid tells her without looking up from her book.
"I'm making it my business. If you don't tell me I'm telling Dad you ditched."
"Go ahead. You're only going to look like an idiot. Now run along with your pathetic weakling of a boyfriend."
Bella huffs walking away from her sister and going to sit with the Cullens. The minute she sits down, she starts complaining to Edward about Astrid. Emmett stares at her for a minute then gets up and leaves. He goes and plops down in the chair across from Astrid.
"Hey, Em, what brings you by," Astrid asks without looking up from her book.
"How did you know it was me?"
"I can tell by your footsteps. You didn't answer my question."
"Your sister is an annoying bitch. The minute she sat down, she started complaining about you."
"Yeah, well that's Bella for you."
"So, what are you reading now?"
"The Amazon warriors of Greek mythology."
"How you do love that warrior shit."
"Damn right, I do."
Emmett throws his head back and laughs, "So how are the tests going?"
"Easy enough. I was allowed to go to Art class to finish my project."
Astrid then proceeded to tell Emmett what her project was. He laughed and thought it was funny that she had an obsession with Norse and Greek gods.
"It's not an obsession; it's a fascination."
"If you say so."
After lunch, Emmett walked Astrid back to the counselor's office so that she could continue with her testing, "I'll meet you at your locker after school," Astrid tells him.
"Okay."
Astrid hugs Emmett then goes into the counselor's office. She spends the rest of the afternoon finishing up her testing. When the final bell rings Astrid walks to Emmett's locker to wait for him.
"So how did it go?" Emmett asks when he arrives.
"Good, I should have the results by Monday. I'll start testing for the first semester of my senior classes on Tuesday. So I should start classes on Wednesday."
"Alright, you want to grab something to eat before we head out to Port Angeles," Emmett asks.
"Nah, let's get going. I need to relieve some stress."
They head out to the parking lot get into Emmett's Jeep and head out to Port Angeles. They arrive at the gym and Astrid goes to change when she comes out Matt tells her to warm up then work with one of the other trains with the punch mitts. He wanted to see how strong her punch really was.
She goes through her stretches and gets with the other trainer. She starts going through a series of punches with the trainer until Matt calls for her to stop. The trainer walks up to Matt and whispers in his ear.
"She's got one hell of a punch, no wonder the girls were no match for her."
"Let's see your kicking, Astrid."
They get the kicking pads, and Astrid gets to work. The trainer tells Matt the same thing. She's incredibly powerful for such a petite girl. After working on her kicks for a while, Matt has her work on the speed back then back to footwork. When she's finished with that, He cuts her loose for the day.
Astrid nods. She goes to the locker room showers, and changes then head out with Emmett. He takes her to get some tacos then the head back to Forks. When they get back to Astrid's house, Astrid notices that Edward's Volvo is there.
"Ah, fuck, your stupid brother is here."
"You want me to come inside with you?"
"You know what, yes. We'll go up to my room and watch TV or something."
"Okay."
Astrid and Emmett go into the house and ignore Bella and Edward, who are watching a movie in the living room. Bella looks up when Astrid walks in.
"Where have you been?"
"What do you care?" Astrid says as she and Emmett make their way up to Astrid's room.
They walk past Bella and Charlie's room, and head for the attic, "Your room is in the attic," Emmett asks.
"Yeah, since this house only has two bedrooms, my dad had the attic remodeled and let me have it."
They climb the stairs to the third floor and go inside, "You sure your dad won't mind. I'm up here alone with you?"
"No, he trusts me more than he does Bella," Astrid tells him with a smirk.
"Why is that?"
"He knows me better. I spend more time with him and talk with him more than Bella does."
Emmett nods. Emmett looks around and notices how bright Astrid's room is. He looks up and sees the skylights, "That's nice," Emmett says and motions with his head.
"Yeah, my dad had that install after I left. He knows how much I like watching the clouds roll by and the storms. Make yourself comfortable. I'm going to change."
Astrid goes into her closet to get a change of clothes then goes into the bathroom. Emmett looks around her room and notices that she has a gaming system like the one he has at home. Going through her games, he sees they have similar tastes in games. Turning on her TV and gaming system, he sees that she's playing God of War. Emmett laughs, he isn't in the least bit surprised that she would be playing that game.
After he finishes snooping, Emmett takes off his shoes and lies down on her bed. Astrid then comes out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and sweats with her hair in a messy bun. Emmett thinks she's never looked lovelier.
"So you want to watch a movie?"
"Yeah, why not?"
Astrid gets on the bed with Emmett then puts on Beowulf. Emmett laughs, "You and your Norse mythology."
Astrid grins at him, "Hey, it's a good movie."
When the movie ended Astrid and Emmett went downstairs. They found that Edward had already left and Bella was in her room. Astrid walked Emmett out to his truck and hugged him; he hugged her back.
"I'll pick you up around 9:00 so we can spend the day together."
Astrid nods, "That's fine. I look forward to going off-roading with you tomorrow."
"Yeah me too."
Emmett hugs Astrid one last time, gets in his Jeep, and drives off. Astrid then goes inside and goes upstairs to play God of War until it's time to meet Charlie at the diner for dinner. At 7:00, Astrid heads downstairs to inform Bella it's time to go. She waits for Bella downstairs by the door.
They get in Bella's truck and drive in silence to the diner. When they arrive, Charlie is already seating at his usual booth reading the menu. The girls walk over and greet their father, "Hey, dad."
Charlie smiles up at his daughter, "Hey, girls."
Bella and Astrid sit down. Cora brings them their menus then takes their drink orders. After a while, she comes back to receive their order. Astrid and Charlie order the same thing, steak cooked medium, baked potato, and corn, while Bella orders the fish.
While they wait for their food, Bella looks at her father and casually mentions that Astrid wasn't in Gym class that day. She is hoping to get her in trouble with her dad.
Charlie looks at Astrid, "Were you still doing your testing?"
"No, I was finishing up an art project."
Charlie nods. Bella stares at her father, "Wait, you knew that Astrid wasn't going to be in class today. And what is she testing for?"
"Of course, I knew, how else is she going to test out of her classes?"
"You're testing out of the 11th grade?" Bella asks.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it's boring and I want to go to college next year."
"You don't have enough credits to graduate this year."
"That's what you think. While you were sitting at home reading Wuthering Heights and laying out in the sun over the summer, I was going to summer school to earn extra credit. Then I would come here and spend the remaining summer with Dad."
Bella glared at her sister. She hated being reminded how much smarter and goal-oriented Astrid was than her. Bella was going to say something snarky but decided to tell Charlie about Emmett.
"Astrid had Emmett in her room this afternoon."
Charlie didn't even bat an eyelash, "What did you do?"
"Watched Beowulf."
"Again?"
"I like it."
Bella looked between Charlie and Astrid, "Aren't you going to tell her something for having a boy in her room?"
"Why, they're only friends."
"You would never let me have Edward in my room."
"That's because he's your boyfriend."
'And I trust Astrid.' Charlie thought.
Bella huffs and crosses her arms. Astrid and Charlie look at each other, shrug and go back to their dinner. When they finish, Astrid gets a ride home with her dad. They get home and Bella storms upstairs. Charlie sighs, he goes into the kitchen, grabs a beer from the fridge, and goes into the living room to watch the game. Astrid joins him a little later.
"Dad, I wanted to let you know that tomorrow I'm going off-roading with Emmett."
"That's fine; Honey don't stay out too late."
Astrid cocks her head to the side, "That's all you're going to say?"
Charlie looks at his youngest daughter, "Yeah, I trust you, Astrid. You've never given me a reason not to."
"Okay then," Astrid kisses her father's cheek, "Goodnight, Dad."
The next morning, Astrid gets up early so that she can go on her run and make lunch for her and Emmett. She decides to make some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Astrid didn't think that Emmett would mind a little bit of bread and cheese. When she finished with that, she wrapped it up in tin foil then put it in a basket along with some chips for herself and a soda and some water. After that, she went upstairs to shower and change.
At 9:00 on the dot, Emmett shows up at the house. Charlie was just about to sit down to drink his coffee when the doorbell rang. He gets up to answer the door. Charlie opens the door and is surprised to see a mountain of a man standing there. He didn't know that Emmett was quite so large. Charlie opens the screen door, and Emmett smiles.
"Chief Swan, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir, finally. I'm Emmett Cullen."
"Right, you're Astrid's friend."
"Yes, sir, her best friend," Emmett tells him with a smile.
Charlie crosses his arms, "Is that so?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why don't you come on in, son, Astrid should be down in a minute."
"Thank you, sir."
"Please, call me Charlie."
"Thank you, Charlie."
They go into the kitchen where Charlie invited Emmett to sit. He scrutinized Emmett for a bit then comes out and asks him what his true intentions are with his daughter.
"I won't deny, Charlie, I'm attracted to Astrid, but she and I agreed that we don't know each other well enough to be anything other than friends and that's fine. Maybe one day she and I can be more than friends, and if not I can live with that."
"You won't pressure her?"
"No, sir, the decision is entirely up to Astrid if she wants to be more than friends."
Charlie nods, "Thank you, Emmett, for being honest with me."
"You're welcome, Charlie."
At that moment, Astrid comes downstairs. Emmett stands when he sees her and smiles, Astrid beams at Emmett and hugs him, "Good morning, Emmett."
"Good morning, Astrid, are you ready to go? "
"Yeah, let me grab our lunch."
Astrid grabs the basket off the counter then hugs Charlie, "Bye, Dad, I'll see you later. I made a few extra Philly sandwiches for you, Billy and Harry."
"Thank you, Astrid, have fun."
"Thanks, Dad."
With that, Astrid and Emmett head out to Emmett's Jeep. Emmett opens the door for her and helps her in. She straps herself in while Emmett takes the basket and safely secures it in the backseat. Then he gets in the jeep.
They head out towards the highway driving for a few miles. Astrid is practically vibrating with excitement. They finally reach their destination and Emmett pulls off the road leading in the woods. They start making their way through riverbeds, mud, rocks, and other natural terrain. Bouncing hard at they hit the ground.
Astrid is having the time of her life, laughing along with Emmett as his Jeep gets muddier and muddier. After a few hours of off-roading, they end in a beautiful secluded meadow. Emmett parks his Jeep, he unbuckles his harness and gets out. Walking over to Astrid's side, he opens the door for her and helps her down.
"I thought that this would be a nice place to stop."
Astrid looks around in awe, "This place is beautiful, Emmett."
"I thought you'd like it."
Emmett goes back to the Jeep. He grabs the basket and a blanket. Emmett walks over to Astrid and spreads out the blanket. He invites her to sit. Astrid smiles at Emmett and takes a seat next to him. Astrid then takes the basket from him and begins to take the food and drinks out.
"I hope you like this. It has a little bit of cheese in it, but I hope you can eat it."
"I'm sure it's delicious, Astrid, unfortunately, I can't eat it."
Astrid sighs, "You can't cheat just once?"
Emmett sighs, "Astrid, you're my best friend. I feel closer to you than I to anyone else. But I haven't been frank with you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, it's about my family's secret."
"Emmett you don't have to tell me, that's your business."
"I know it is, but I would feel better if you knew the truth. I don't think it's fair that your sister knows and you don't. Especially since I would like to be more than friends with you."
Astrid sighs, "I'd like that too."
Emmett's eyes widen, "Really?"
"Yeah, that was the whole reason I asked if you wanted to do something today. I was going to ask you if you wanted to be more than just friends."
"Are you telling me you were going to ask me out?" Emmett asks with a smirk.
"Yes, is there anything wrong with that?" Astrid asks, getting defensive.
Emmett raises his hands, "No, no. I think it's cute. But before we talk about that, I want to tell you my secret. After hearing this, you might change your mind."
"Okay, lay it on me."
Emmett takes a deep breath, "The reason I don't eat with you isn't because of a diet. It's because I don't eat."
"What do you mean you don't eat?"
"My family and I are vampires. We survive off the blood of animals."
Astrid starts laughing. She laughs so hard she has to hold her stomach, but Emmett only stares at her.
She abruptly stops laughing, "Wait, are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Well, shit."