Renewal [Emmett Cullen] (1)

[39- Hanover]

As promised, Jasper and Esme managed to rein in Alice's exuberant plans. Her overblown plans echoed throughout the house.

"Alice, I'm sure Eleanor doesn't want to rent out an entire cruise ship. There's only 7 of us. Cruise ships can comfortable handle hundreds," Esme attempted to negotiate. There were a lot of sighs, mostly from Alice but eventually they found middle ground. No super yacht. No castle. The wedding would happen sometime next year, potentially in March or April. It was crazy how quickly our relationship progressed. In normal human relationships, a year was definitely on the shorter end of how long the couple knew each other before getting married. But as Alice put it, vampire relationships were different. Emmett and I made sure to stay clear of wedding planning. We both had zero interest in the matter and besides, Alice had it handled.

Tomorrow was our first day of college, the first time I would interact with humans closely. I was going by a new name, Eleanor Whitlock, with a new ID to match. Jasper and I, with our similar blond hair colour were posing as twins, and Alice and Emmett as Cullens. In my opinion, Jasper and I didn't look enough alike to pass as even siblings but Alice assured me that to humans, we did.

We were leaving tonight to settle in to our house closer to the campus. Since we would be spending weekdays in the new house and weekends in our current house, I packed up most of my wearable clothes and the essentials, particularly, my computer. Emmett also promised that there would be a TV and video games.

"Are we taking the Volvo?" I asked Emmett. Our boxes were neatly arranged by the front door.

"About that, I have a surprise. Well it's actually from all of us," he said. He proceeded to cover my eyes with one of his hands and with his other outstretched hand, I followed him outside.

"No peaking!" He removed his hand. Sitting in front of me was my dream car, a matte black Audi R8 V10. They weren't even available in the US yet. It was one of those cars that you put on your pin board and dream about but never actually get.

I must have been imagining it. This kind of surprise only happened in movies. My fingertips trailed the body of the car, the smooth finish was incredible. It reminded me of the bat mobile, only smaller and less expensive, although the $300,000 price tag wasn't too far off.

"You got me a car?" I said, my voice filled with disbelief.

He shrugged, "Why not? I want to give you so much more. Do you like it?"

"I love it! When did you guys get it?"

"We ordered it online and they delivered it yesterday. We kept it in the second garage."

"Wait, you can buy cars online, and they ship it to you?" I said incredulously.

He smiled, "Carlisle knows a guy."

"It's a little ostentatious for college, don't you think?"

He shrugged again, "We like to drive fast."

We crammed our boxes into the car. Alice and Jasper took Alice's canary yellow Porsche that he bought for her for no other reason other than she wanted it. I was being to understand that the Cullens frivolous spending ran in the family.

After saying our goodbyes to Edward, Esme, and Carlisle, we drove off. Edward wasn't coming to college with us. I think I heard he mention something about travelling later in the year, on a solo trip. I felt bad for him, everyone else had found their match except him. He insisted he was happy but I didn't believe him. Hopefully he won't complicate things by falling for a human like Emmett did for me. I had a feeling that won't end well.

The car's maiden drive was amazing, the 50 minute drive took only 35. I sped through the New Hampshire landscape, the car quickly at full speed as soon as my foot tapped the gas. I followed Alice's bright car to the house, the yellowing forest slowly thinning out and replaced by houses. Our house was situated on the outskirts of Hanover, only a few minutes drive from Dartmouth. The Porsche turned on to a quiet street and then into a driveway.

The house was starkly different to our old one, appearing to be a reinterpretation of old shingle houses of the late 19th century, but new windows and dark wood doors provided a much needed modern uplifting. Small, intricately cut shrubbery lined the driveway.

It was large, almost intimidatingly so for 4 vampires who didn't need to sleep or eat. A natural grey stone path wound to a double oak front door. The windows weren't the large ones that the Cullens were fond of, but more the size I saw on the neighbouring houses.

"Do you like it?" Alice asked, skipping to my side. Emmett and Jasper were right behind. I nodded, still in awe at it's timeless beauty.

"Lets go inside!" She said, turning the brass handle. I didn't know what to expect but it definitely wasn't this.