Darkness Will Come to Light [1]

XXXVIII. Children

It was another cold and wet Friday in Forks.

Melaina woke up angry at the world. Morning light was streaming though her billowing curtains and it hurt her eyes. She didn't sleep well with the situation from yesterday swirling around in her mind, and her nose was sore from dropping her phone on her face.

She slowly and grouchily got herself ready for school.

Mel dragged herself downstairs, backpack and boots in hand. Esme made her breakfast of waffles with peanut butter, honey, and banana slices. Mel kept her head low, but still managed a polite "thank you" to Esme.

Her favorite breakfast didn't make her feel any better.

Mel followed Rosalie to Edward's Volvo, although he was already gone with Emmett.

Edward and Emmett started their weekend early by ditching school and hunting for bears in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Mel wasn't lucky enough to skip out on classes and had to take three tests throughout the day.

Melaina took to staying mute when it came to Jasper, Alice, and Edward. She was still not okay with them conspiring against her. She never used their weakness of blood against them, but they pulled the "suicidal, self-harming human" card.

Mel kept her headphones in her ears all throughout the school day and sat by herself at lunch.

Jasper could feel her anger and frustration, so he didn't try to converse with her or alter her emotions. Alice, on the other hand, tried continuously to get Mel to forgive her.

Mel was allowed to be angry. So angry she stayed.

~*~

The start of the next week was sunny, so the Cullens excused themselves from school for a day of "camping." Emmett, Jasper, and Alice went hunting. Rosalie spent the day with Mel in the house.

Melaina wasn't mad at Rosalie.

Rose happily helped Melaina re-dye the ends of her hair. Instead of blue again, the sisters decided on purple for the tips.

With her hair drying in folded tinfoil down her back, Mel convinced Rose to join her in the kitchen for some baking.

Mel taught Rose how to make her mother's favorite cherry cobbler recipe, which was less of a disaster than expected. For a vampire who couldn't eat, Rosalie wasn't too bad in the kitchen.

Mel taste-tested the oozing cherry pie and was happy with the delicious results. With no one else in the family able to eat it, she planned on splitting with Sav the next time that she went to school.

The skies stayed clear and bright for two days.

~*~

Melaina entered the garage first with a half-eaten French toast bagel in her hand. "Edward left already?" Mel questioned aloud, knowing everyone in the house could hear her.

Emmett flashed to her side. "Yes!" he cheered. "Into the Jeep, everyone. Today, we ride in style."

Rosalie sat in the front seat beside Emmett. Jasper, Alice, and Mel were stuffed in the back, much to Mel's annoyance. She glared out the window.

"You're not so subtle, Mel." She said nothing to Jasper's comment. Alice frowned from the middle seat and leaned into Jasper's embrace for comfort.

"How long is she going to hate you all?" Emmett asked. He drove at a speed the cops would call "reckless driving" and then some.

Alice zoned out to search the future a moment. "End of the week," Alice said, relieved. It was already Wednesday. Mel just huffed under her breath.

Emmett pulled into the school lot and parked his Jeep in the usual spot. Alice spoke as Emmett turned the engine off: "We didn't mean any hard feelings, Mel. We love you. We just want to protect you."

Jasper and Alice slid out on one side of the car, and Rosalie opened the door for Mel to jump down.

"I love you all too." Melaina didn't want her family to think she didn't love them or didn't appreciate their care, but sometimes it was overbearing, and Melaina felt smothered.

Ice cold mist made Mel shiver and hug her jacket tighter around her. It was dark and foggy out, which gave the mostly empty parking lot an ominous vibe.

A familiar silver Volvo took the parking spot next to where the Cullens stood. Edward opened the door for Bella. "Uh..." Mel trailed off. She stared at the vampire and human smiling at each other with hearts in their eyes.

Rosalie hissed under her breath as Edward and Bella basically announced their relationship to the public. "Are they a thing? When did this happen?" Mel turned to Alice questioningly, forgetting for a moment that the seer was currently on her shit list.

"Edward saved her last night in Port Angeles. She knows about us," Alice explained.

"Oh, I heard the yelling. I didn't realize that meant they were together. That's... different."

"It's risky," Jasper said through his teeth. His dark eyes watched the new couple enter the school.

"Is he happy though?" Mel looked at the pathokinetic. He nodded tightly.

"He's happy to finally be getting some!" Emmett burst out.

Mel cringed. "Ew. I don't need to know that."

"They won't have sex. Edward doesn't have that kind of control." Jasper seemed sure. "There isn't a moment that he stands by her where he doesn't think of tastin' her blood."

"Hey, Jazz. Let's not talk about blood, hm? We have to enter your school of walking buffets before the bell rings, and I think someone mentioned something about not exposing your secret..." Melaina rubbed her chin mock-thoughtfully.

"Okay, Miss Sassy Pants," Alice teased. Melaina smiled innocently at her vampire siblings. "Let's go before you're late for class, Mel."

"Was that a human joke?" Mel challenged. Alice grinned at her. "Because it's not like you can make any short jokes on me, Tinkerbelle."

"Ohh she got you," Emmett howled. "Cat fight in midget town!"

Melaina looked at Rosalie meaningfully and she slapped Emmett over the head with her vampire strength. "Ow, babe," he whined.

"Pick on someone your own size, Em."

"Was that a fat joke?"

"You're a joke," Melaina shot at Emmett.

"Children, children. We have thirty seconds until the first bell. Let's get moving," Alice interrupted.

Rosalie wrapped an arm around Mel's shoulders and led the group into Forks High for another day in paradise.