☼Rising Sun☼

☼ chapter four ☼

RENESMEE

The door slams shut behind Jacob, and the sound is just barely loud enough for me to hear over my pounding heart. A faint blush still dusts my cheeks, and I'm clutching his t-shirt, which smells just like him, to my chest. When I breathe in, all I can smell is him, my Jacob, and even though I want to bury my face in the fabric and never pull away, I settle for pulling the shirt over my head and letting the bottom fall to my knees.

I look down at myself, a small, happy smile pulling at my lips. It's still warm.

I'm wearing his shirt.

Biting my bottom lip to hold back the squeal that desperately wants to escape, I finally look up, my gaze immediately landing on my parents, who are watching me with mixed emotions on their faces.

My smile falls away, and then I'm glaring daggers at them- mostly my father, but my mother too because she made no movie to stop Dad from throwing Jake. I stalk forward, shoving past them to the stairs. I'm exhausted, and the idea of dealing with my parents right now makes me feel sick to my stomach.

"Renesmee!" Dad calls, sounding frustrated. "Come back here!"

I decide to take a page out of Jake's book and snap back. "Why? So you can criticize me and my actions some more? No thanks."

He sighs. "Renesmee-"

Whipping around impulsively, I stalk back to my parents, gritting my teeth in anger. "Fine. You wanna talk? Let's talk. In fact, let's start with the fact that you threw my best friend against the wall."

My mom is holding her head in her hands, leaning against the wall as she does. Dad, however, is bristling with anger, and suddenly I'm filled with a crippling nostalgia because he's always angry.

I can't remember the last time he wasn't mad or disgusted or frustrated with me, and all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry.

When did everything start to fall apart?

My father's expression softens, and I know it's because he heard my thoughts, which makes me so inexplicably furious at him, even though he can't control it, that I spin around again and sprint for the stairs.

"Nessie!" This time it's my mom who speaks, her voice cracking in the middle of my nickname. The pure, unpolluted emotion in her voice makes me freeze, a lump forming in my throat. I'm only on the third step, my hand clutching the railing so tightly my knuckles are white.

Slowly, I look over my shoulder to find Mom, standing halfway between me and my father, her face twisted with pain. "Baby, I'm so sorry." She whispers. "This... we never wanted any of this to happen."

I've heard this line so often recently that I can't even find it in myself to feel bad.

"It didn't have to happen this way." My voice is so quiet that, without her vampire hearing, Mom wouldn't have been able to hear it. "This is your fault. Both of you."

Before they can react, I've disappeared up the stairs, tears spilling from my eyes as the pain from tonight pours out of my fragile heart, spilling into my blood and pumping throughout my whole body, bringing the ache to every cell, even those in my pinkie toe.