After The Adoption: A Twilight Fanfic

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Cuts and Bruises

RPOV

The next morning I woke up super early to avoid running into Edward. After yesterday’s fight, I didn’t want to face him just yet. I took a quick shower and got dressed in jeans and a blue sweater; it was raining outside again, and then tried to cover up my eye with some make-up. After about half an hour of struggling with various concealers (and poking myself in the eye with the brush) I gave up and went downstairs to raid the fridge. The house was quiet as I sneaked downstairs, I could hear heavy snoring coming from Rosalie’s room, so Emmett must have spent the night with her. I tiptoed into the kitchen and opened the fridge, my stomach grumbling, looking for something to eat.

“Hungry?” a voice said from behind me. I jumped, hitting my head against one of the shelves in the fridge.

“Ouch,” I mumbled under my breath as I straightened up and turned to face the owner of the voice. It was Edward; he was sitting at the island, eating a bowl of cereal, a slight smile on his face. “Oh it’s you,” I mumbled avoiding his gaze.

“Hungry?” he asked again, pointing to the box of cereal standing on the counter. I nodded and grabbed the milk from the fridge along with a bowl and spoon from the cupboard. I debated for about three seconds if I should just go eat in my room, but deiced against it. Don’t be a coward, he is your brother, and you have to face him sooner or later, I thought to myself.I settled down on the opposite end of the island and kept my eyes (or at least, the working one) on my cereal the whole time. We ate in an uncomfortable silence for a while until Edward gave an exasperated sigh, stood up and walked over to me. He lifted up my chin and gently ran his fingers over my eye.

“You should let Carlisle check that out,” he simply said and then walked out of the room.

“Damn,” I cursed under my breath and slammed my fist down on the table. He was such a dick. Why couldn’t he just apologize like a normal person? He was the one who hit me, I should be mad at him, not the other way around! “Ugh,” I sighed and put my head in my hands. Maybe I should get him some anger management classes for his birthday, or ‘how to apologize to your sister after you gave her a black eye’ classes or maybe even ‘stay out of your sisters business’ classes.

“Good morning,” someone said from behind me, causing me to jump again.

“Do you people like sneaking up on me and scaring me to death?” I asked turning around to face Bella, who was standing by the door with a smirk on her face.

“Sorry, you are just so gullible,” she said, sitting down next to me and grabbing the cereal. “Was Edward in here?” she asked, looking scared for a minute.  

“Yes,” I said, taking another spoonful of cereal. Bella sighed and poured herself some cereal.

“Did he say anything to you?” she asked, grabbing the milk and pouring it over her cereal.

“He didn’t apologize, if that’s what you are asking.” I grumbled. Bella yawned loudly and ran her hand through her tousled hair. I noticed for the first time that she was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday and that there were dark circles under her eyes.

“Bella, did you just get home?” I asked. She blushed a delicate shade of pink and forced herself to swallow her cereal.

“No,” she said unconvincingly, avoiding my gaze.

“You’re lying,” I said. Bella was never a good liar; her furious blushing always gave her away. She shrugged and put another spoonful of cereal into her mouth. “Come on Bella, you know you can tell me anything. Where have you been?” I asked.

“I told you, I haven’t been anywhere,” she mumbled.

“Are you hurt? Did somebody hurt you?” I asked, my eyes looking for signs of bruises on her visible skin, but there were none. Still, she could have been hurt in other ways. Bella shook her head furiously and grabbed my hands.

“Renesmee, promise me that you will stay away from Alec, he is dangerous, you don’t know what he’s capable of,” she said urgently. I searched her face, looking for something that proves she wasn’t another over-protective sibling trying to ruin my love life, but something in her eyes made me believe her. She though Alec was truly dangerous.

“Alright I will stay away from him.”

 ************

After the scene in the kitchen I helped Bella to her room, making sure she wasn’t seriously hurt. After that I had Carlisle check out my eye (just a bruise) and then persuaded Esme to let me drive to school alone.

“Alright, but only for today,” she told me, handing me the keys to the brand new Audi A3 they bought me yesterday.  The entire drive to school my thoughts was preoccupied with Edward and Bella. I knew they had something going on this summer, and Alice keeps telling me how they will eventually end up together, but I haven’t seen them together the party. What could have happened between them? And then it clicked; the party. She had kissed Alec at the party, did Edward find out? Was that why she spent the night somewhere else? Because Edward was mad? I have felt the wrath of Edward, and if I were Bella I would have spent the night somewhere else too.  I was suddenly glad that I didn’t have to endure the stiff silence there would have been in the car if I had ridden with Edward, he was mad at both me and Bella now.

 As soon as I pulled into the lot my door was yanked open, I was so frightened I almost jumped into the passenger seat. I glared at the person who gave me my third scare today and met a pair of gorgeous sparkling brown eyes that made me weak in the knees. Alec was grinning at me, it was the first real smile he ever gave me and it made my heart flutter.

“Did I scare you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I was sitting between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat, it must have looked ridicules. His smile changed into a smirk and he held out his hand to help me out of the car. I hesitated to take it for only a second, and the minute I placed my hand in his I knew that I was falling for him, and that I was falling hard and fast.