Genesis [Emmett Cullen] (2)

[07- Frustration]

The next month went back to normal. Well, not exactly. Edward stayed with us, which delighted Esme. He was here but he wasn't here. He would hunt with the rest of us and for the most part everything seemed normal but I could tell he was in denial. I guess it was a difficult thing to come to terms with, literally having your future flash before your eyes.

It was getting to the point in the school year when my patience was being worn thin. I found it increasingly difficult to deal with the monotonous lessons and hear the same stupid conversations about trivial human problems. This month, the conversations all centered around the girl's choice dance that loomed on the horizon. My attention span was incredibly short and I was at my wit's end hearing the same conversations about dresses and hair and makeup.

"How's your Mandarin?" Alice asked, when we were in the cafeteria, providing a much needed distraction.

"Bùcuò," I replied. Emmett looked at me with a confused expression on his face.

"Not bad," I added for his benefit.

"Translate the Book of Psalms into Mandarin," Alice said with a smile. She always knew how to kill time in these tedious lunch hours.

I finished the translation in my head as the lunch bell rang.

Alice glanced at her watch, "Not bad."

"I'm going to keep practicing," I insisted. I knew Edward could do the translate in less than thirty minutes so definitely needed to improve. His knowledge of language was far superior compared to mine.

After what felt like an eternity the bell for the end of the day rang. Freedom. At last. I wanted to be anywhere but here at school.

In the confines of the car, I felt a calming sensation wash over me.

"Thanks," I muttered to Jasper. He was probably the only one who understood that trapped feeling I was experiencing. Out of all of us, Jasper and I had the most difficult time adapting to high school, though for starkly different reasons. Jasper has the least control over his thirst due to his unrestrained upbringing as a young vampire in a violent army environment. But the reason I struggled was because I was impatient, I needed to be constantly stimulated by my environment, which is why I spent so much time programming. I loved solving problems to keep my mind busy. If I didn't, I got frustrated, though I didn't know it was happening until someone pointed it out.

As a human, I had sports before and after school to tire me physically and mentally but as a vampire, it wasn't that simple.

As soon as we dumped our backpacks off at home, Emmett and I ran to the clearing to play football. The run there was already therapeutic, I could almost feel my tension melt away with every stride forward.

Emmett and I took opposite ends of field and threw the football back and forth. We must have been over 400 feet away, more than double the length of two football fields, though distance was no problem. Most of the time we just threw spirals but occasionally Emmett would try to break the sound barrier by throwing it as hard as he physically could with limited success.

"Feeling better?" He asked, his voice never above normal volume.

I nodded, "I'm sorry about today and just high school in general."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm so complicated and annoying." Emmett dropped the football and darted in front of me in half a second.

"Why would you even think that?"

"I'm like a toddler, Emmett. I need to do something. I need something to hold my attention. I can't just sit and pretend to be normal in a classroom for years. For me, high school is so...." I couldn't manage to say it out loud. I hated showing weakness and to me, admitting that high school frustrated me was weakness. I did my best to hide it but some part of me knew otherwise.

The way I saw school was like someone was constantly reciting the alphabet. At first, it's bearable but then you have two routes; tune it out or suffer. And I happen to fall into the latter category.

He cupped his hands on the sides of my face and stared into my eyes.

"You know we don't have to go back to high school. Or college even. We could take some time off, maybe go travelling."

"As good as that sounds, this shouldn't be just about me. What do you want?"

"The one thing I want is what's best for you," he shrugged. I stood on my tip toes and pressed my lips fiercely against his. His fingertips gently traced circles onto my bare skin where my shirt met my jeans.

He broke the kiss, "Should we continue playing football or take this home?" I looked up at the ebony sky, feeling the small droplets of rain grow bigger and increase in frequency.

"Home."

"I was thinking the same thing," he raised our entwined fingers to stroke my cheek with the back of my hand. "The problem is when I start kissing you, I always want more."

"So greedy Emmett," I chided playfully, though I always felt the same. He grinned wryly.

"Before we go, I have to do one thing." With no time to think about what he said, he bent over and stuck his hand in a puddle, completely drenching me with one quick flick.

"Payback for the snowball in the cafeteria!" He jested and then ran back home.

"You're on!" I replied, chasing after him. I caught up in a few seconds and lightly elbowed his side. We laughed at each other and ourselves all the way back.