"Hey, Kiddo, how was training?"
"Good, I'm working on grappling now."
"What's that?"
"The wrestling part of MMA."
Charlie nod. Bella scowls at her sister, but Astrid ignores her.
"You're just in time for dinner."
"No, thanks, Emmett took me out to eat. I think I'll turn in early."
"Okay, then, Honey, goodnight."
"Goodnight, Dad," Astrid doesn't bother to say anything to Bella.
Astrid goes up to her room and gets ready for bed. She calls Emmett to tell him she is going to bed and he wishes her goodnight. Astrid then puts her phone to charge and settles down for the night.
Astrid is up at dawn for her morning run. When she gets back, she starts on breakfast for Charlie and herself. Astrid sighs and decides that Astrid can't be cruel, so Astrid makes breakfast for Bella as well. When Charlie comes down, she sets a plate of bacon, eggs, and a cup of coffee in front of him. She takes her plate and coffee and sits down next to him.
A few minutes later, Bella stumbles down the stairs. She walks into the kitchen and notices that Astrid has already made breakfast for Charlie. Astrid looks up from her plate.
"There's some bacon and eggs for you if you want."
"Thanks," Bella mumbles.
Astrid nods.
Bella serves herself her breakfast, and some coffee then sits down across from Astrid. Immediately the room fills with tension. Astrid and Bella eat in silence while Charlie reads the paper. Now and then glancing between the two girls. He knows they're at odds, but Charlie doesn't know what to say or do to fix it.
As soon as Astrid finishes her breakfast, she gets up, washes her plate, and goes upstairs to get ready. By this time, Emmett has shown up and is at the door. He rings the doorbell; Charlie gets up to answer the door.
"Good morning, Emmett."
"Good morning, Charlie. Is Astrid ready?"
"Yeah, she'll be down in a minute, come on in."
While Emmett waits for Astrid in the living room, Bella rushes upstairs to brush her teeth. A few moments later there's a honk outside, and Bella rushes out.
"Bye, Dad, I'm going to school," Bella slams the door shut and rushes towards Edward's Volvo.
Charlie watches through the window as they drive off and sighs. He turns to Emmett, "You know your brother has never once come to the door to pick up Bella. I've never even met him properly."
"Really?"
"Yeah, why is that?"
"I don't know, Charlie, I guess I just have better manners than him."
"Yeah, you do."
At that moment, Astrid comes downstairs. Emmett smiles when he sees her, "You look beautiful," He says then kisses her cheek.
"Thank you, Emmett," Astrid says then hugs him. Charlie smiles at how cute they look.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yep," Astrid kisses her father on the cheek, "Bye Dad, wish me luck, today I find out if I can graduate early."
"Good luck, Honey."
"Thanks."
With that, Astrid and Emmett head out. They get to school and make their way up to the counselor's office. Astrid knocks on the door and hears Ms. Reilly tell them to come in. When Ms. Reilly looks up at Astrid, she has a massive smile on her face.
"Congratulations, Astrid, you are now a senior."
Astrid turns around and hugs Emmett.
"Congratulations, Sunshine!"
"Thanks, Em."
"So now that you're a senior, you can start classes today. I've given you all the AP classes, you don't have to take gym class, your Art, Science, and Language classes are still the same. Here's your new schedule."
Ms. Reilly handed Astrid her new schedule, but Emmett snatched it out of her hand. He looked it over and smiled, "Awesome; we have all the same classes."
Ms. Reilly smiled at the couple, that was her gift to them since Astrid did such an excellent job, "Now, all I need for you to do is turn in your old books and pick up your new ones, and you're all set."
"Thank you, Ms. Reilly," Astrid tells her.
"Yeah, thank you, Ms. Reilly," Emmett repeats.
Ms. Reilly chuckles, "You're welcome, you two."
With that, the couple heads to Astrid's locker to gather her books and turn them in. Once they turned them in and picked up Astrid's new books, Astrid and Emmett go back to her locker and put the books away except for her Math, English, and History books.
Astrid and Emmett go back outside and wait for the bell to ring. Once again they sit on the hood of Emmett's Jeep and cuddle. Bella and Edward are across the parking lot with Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Duncan. Bella turns towards her sister and smirks, feeling smug that all of Edward's family is with her, not Astrid.
Jasper, feeling Bella's smugness, frowns. As it is, he doesn't like the girl because she is a temptation that Jasper does not need, but he finds her attitude appalling. Jasper doesn't understand why his wife fawns all over Bella, but Jasper doesn't like it. And he can't take her emotions anymore.
"Will you all excuse me," the Texan says.
He doesn't wait for a response he walks away from the group and heads over to Astrid and Emmett. Emmett smiles when he sees his brother walking towards them.
"Good morning, Astrid, Emmett."
"Good morning, Jasper. What brings you by," Astrid asks.
"Oh, I wanted to see how you two were doing this morning."
Astrid raises an eyebrow.
"Okay, I wanted to get away from your sister. Her emotions were making me sick."
Astrid furrows her brow, not understanding what Jasper means.
"Jasper is an empath. He can also manipulate people's emotions," Emmett explains.
Astrid tenses in the last part. Jasper chuckles, "Don't worry, Darlin, for some reason, you're immune."
"Oh, good. Wait, you tried to manipulate me?"
"Just once, when you almost got into a fight with Rose."
Astrid nods, "Well, in that case, it's fine."
Jasper chuckles, "So, I haven't seen you in class this past couple of days. Were you out sick?"
"No, I was taking some tests so I could move on to the senior class and graduate this year. Since I passed everything, I'm a senior now."
Jasper whistles, "That's pretty good, congratulations."
"Thanks."
"So do we still have Art class together?"
"Of course."
Astrid and the two vampires talk for a while and laugh with Bella staring at them the whole time scowling. She had never seen Jasper so friendly with anyone else, and it was starting to piss her off. When the bell rings, Bella grabs Edward's hand and storms off. Astrid, Emmett, and Jasper watch them go.
"What's wrong with Bella now?"
"She's jealous," Jasper says with a smirk.
"About what?" Emmett asks.
"Probably because I came over here. Bella was staring over here earlier, feeling very smug. I can only imagine because we were all with her."
Astrid shakes her head, "Bella is so petty."
"Yeah, well, it's time to get to class, Sunshine, let's go."
With that, they head inside. Astrid and Emmett walk hand in hand to their Math class, where he introduces Astrid to their teacher. The teacher smiles at Astrid and tells her to take a seat next to Emmett. The couple takes their places, the bell rings, and the lesson begins.
And so it went for the rest of the morning, Emmett introducing Astrid to her new teachers and they would end up sitting together. The only time they were separated was when Astrid went to Art class.
When Astrid went to Art class, Jasper invited her to sit next to him. Astrid happily agreed on, much to Rosalie's irritation. She still didn't like Astrid, but Astrid was more tolerable than Bella.
When class started the Art teacher told them that they were going to work with clay and make sculptures. That the students could make, anything, they wanted. The teacher set the clay out in front of each student and told then students to get started.
Astrid thought for a moment about what she wanted to sculpt. She had already down a painting of Thor so she decided that she would do one from Greek mythology. Thinking for a moment longer, it finally occurred to her. She would sculpt an Amazon warrior. Now that she knew what to sculpt, the image came quickly to her mind.
Without delay, Astrid started on her project. It didn't take long for her sculpture to begin taking shape. Astrid had the woman pose tall with her fist clenched holding a sword in the other hand. She was wearing knee-high boots and a Lariat tied to her hip. The Amazon's hair was blowing in the breeze.
By the time class was over, Astrid had her sculpture more or less done. Since she had a free period next, Astrid asked the Art teacher if she could stay to work on her project for a bit longer, he agreed. Astrid walked out of class and found Emmett waiting for her. Astrid told him that she had a project she wanted to keep working on for a while longer.
"If that's the case, I'll sit with you."
Astrid asks her teacher, and he said it was fine. Emmett walked into class and was stunned when he saw her sculpture, "You started this today?"
"Yeah, I was inspired."
"Wow, that's amazing."
"Thank you."
By the end of their free period, Astrid was almost finished she only needed to add a few minor details that she would finish up the following day. When the bell rang, Astrid and Emmett went to lunch. They got in line to get their lunch and took a seat at an empty table. A little while later, Jasper joined them, along with Rosalie and Duncan. Astrid raised an eyebrow at Rosalie.
"You're more tolerable than your sister," Rosalie tells her.
"If you say so," Astrid answers.
While Astrid is eating her lunch, they can hear Jessica talking about Prom, "Monte Carlo? That's our prom theme?"
"Gambling, tuxedos, and Bond. James. Bond." Eric tells her.
Astrid laughs when she hears them discussing prom. Emmett chuckles, "Does that mean if I asked you to prom you would say no?" Emmett asks as he hugs Astrid from behind.
"Ask me and see."
"Would you go to prom with me?"
"We'll see," Astrid says then kisses his chin.
"You're an evil little thing."
"Yes, yes, I am."
Emmett pouts, and Jasper and Duncan laugh. Rosalie smiles.
Bella looks over at the table where Astrid is sitting and scowls. She can't believe that Edward's siblings, except for Alice, abandoned them to sit with that blonde bitch. Anger and jealous rise in Bella. She hates the fact that once again, Astrid has stolen the spotlight from her.
Jasper looks up at Bella and frowns. He can feel the anger and jealousy coming off of Bella in waves. Astrid turns to Jasper, "What's the matter?"
"Your sister is angry and jealous of you."
"Jealous of me, why?"
"Probably because you're prettier, stronger, more self-confident, and we prefer you over her," Rosalie explained.
"She's never felt that way before."
"She does now, Darlin'," Jasper tells her.
Astrid shrugged, "Well, I guess that's her problem."
The rest of the afternoon went by swiftly, and soon Astrid and Emmett found themselves walking towards Emmett's Jeep to head out to Port Angeles. At that moment, Jasper comes jogging up to them.
"Hey, where are you guys heading?"
"Astrid has MMA after school, so we're heading out to Port Angeles."
"Is that right? Mind if I tag along?" Jasper asks.
Astrid and Emmett look at each other, "Yeah, I don't mind, Jasper." Astrid tells him.
"Great, let me go tell Alice."
Jasper runs over to tell Alice he's going with Astrid and Emmett, she nods and kisses him. Jasper comes back, and they all get in the Jeep. When they get to the gym, Astrid introduces Jasper to Matt.
"Matt, this is my boyfriend's brother, Jasper. I hope it's okay that he came to watch."
"No, it's fine, Astrid, as long as he sits there like Emmett does there's no problem."
Jasper thanks him and goes to sit next to Emmett.
Astrid goes to the locker room to change. When she comes back out, Astrid goes with her trainer, who has her work on her grappling again.
As Astrid grapples with one of the fighters, Jasper leans over to Emmett, "She does this kind of stuff every day?"
"Yeah, Astrid enjoys the fight, and she's good at it."
"I can see that; she's a little spitfire."
"Yeah, she is," Emmett says proudly.
As Emmett and Jasper continue to watch, they watch the other fighter put Astrid in a submission move, but Astrid refuses to tap out. Slowly Astrid starts to power her way out of the move and reverses it, causing her opponent to tap out.
Jasper's mouth falls open, "I had no idea she was that strong."
"Yeah, don't you remember when she threw me over her shoulder?"
"Damn, that's right."
Astrid continues to work on her grappling for the next two hours until Matt tells her it's time to quit. Matt walks over to Astrid and puts his hand on her shoulder.
"You're doing great, Kid. I think we can cut your gym time to three times a week now. So I want you here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."
"Okay, Matt, I'll be here."
Matt pats her on the shoulder, "Hit the showers, kid."
Astrid jogs off to the locker room to shower and change. A few minutes later, Astrid comes out and walks over to Emmett and Jasper.
She hugs Emmett then looks at Jasper, "So what did you think?"
"I thought that was amazing. You're very talented, Darlin'."
"Thank you, Jasper."
"Let's head out and get you something to eat," Emmett tells Astrid.
"Oh, I wanted to go out with my dad, so I could tell him about my day if you don't mind?"
"Not at all, Sunshine."
"Thanks, Em."
Astrid, Emmett, and Jasper get in the Jeep and drive back to Forks. They get to Astrid's house, and Emmett gets out to open the door for Astrid.
"Bye, Jasper, see you tomorrow."
"Bye, Darlin'."
Emmett walks Astrid to the door and hugs and kisses her goodnight, "Call me when you get home."
"Okay, Emmett."
Emmett kisses Astrid one more time then jogs off towards his Jeep. Getting in he and Jasper wave goodbye. Astrid smiles and goes into the house. The minute she walks in, Bella confronts her.
"Uh, hi," Astrid says to her sister.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"What am I doing to you now?"
"You're stealing my friends away. It's so typical of you, Astrid. You follow me around like a lost puppy when we get here. Then try to take my boyfriend from me. Then when I finally get some real friends. You try to steal them away too. You're so pathetic, why don't you make some friends of your own?"
Astrid stood there with her mouth hanging open, what was she talking about? Astrid try to steal Edward from her, gross. And wasn't Bella who was clinging to Astrid when they first arrived at school?
Astrid stared at Bella then slowly, her anger started to build. There was suddenly a loud clap of thunder outside, and Astrid's blue eyes seemed to brighten just a little.
"You know what, you bitch. Ever since you 'fell in love' with fucking Edward, you changed, and all I ever wanted to do was protect you. But I've had it with you. You're on your own, and you deserve every bad thing that comes from this toxic relationship."
"And as far as me following you around like a lost puppy, that's a laugh. You couldn't get through the day without me. And it's not my fault that the Cullens would rather sit with Emmett and me than your whiny, bitchy self. So don't blame me for your Shit!" Astrid yelled.
At that moment, the thunder boomed so loudly that it rattled the windows. At that moment, Charlie comes in the house soaked to the bone, "Man, it's raining cats and dogs out there."
Charlie sees his girls standing in the hallway and looks between them, "Is there a problem?"
"Not anymore, Dad. There's no dinner ready, do you want to get to the diner for dinner or order a pizza?"
"Well, let's wait for the rain to let up a bit then go to the diner." Charlie looks at Astrid and Bella, "All of us."
"That's fine with me, Dad," Astrid says
"Me too."
About 20 minutes later the rain lets up a bit, and they head out to the diner in Charlie's police cruiser.