perfect times → EMMETT CULLEN ✓

f o u r t e e n

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
❝ disappear ❞

     HAYDEN FELT GROGGY the next morning, barely managing to pull herself out of bed and get ready for school. However, after she had finished off her breakfast, which consisted of a bowl of fruit and a piece of slightly burnt toast, she was surprised to find that Emmett's familiar Jeep was parked in her driveway. With her eyebrows furrowed and her bag on her shoulder, the brunette proceeds outside in search of a reason for his unusual and unnatural appearance.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Hayden asks the boy as he steps from the Jeep, crossing her arms over her chest in question. "Shouldn't you be going to school, Emmett?"

"I'm picking you up for school," he says in an obvious manner. "Now come on. You don't want to make us both late, do you sweetheart?"

"Screw your nicknames," Hayden rolls her eyes, taking a step back to the house. "I'll be right back."

Emmett chuckles as he watches her disappear back into the house, his attention averted as the curtains of a top-floor room is pulled back. Hayden's mother peers down to the driveway, rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands. Then, in quick realization, she leaves the window, bursting through the bedroom door to try and catch Hayden before she exits the house.

"Hayden!" Amberley calls out, practically racing down the staircase. "Hold on a minute, I need to talk to you before you leave."

"Sorry mother, but I have a school to attend to," her daughter dismisses her without a second glance, slamming the front door behind her. Once outside, she doesn't hesitate to walk straight to the Jeep.

Upon tossing her bag in the backseat, Hayden realizes that her mother was standing patiently in the doorway, her eyes expectant. But the brunette had no intentions of speaking to the woman that had neglected her time-and-time again. It was time that she cut toxic people from her life, and destroyed all negativity that haunted her every day.

"Just drive," Hayden instructs, pulling on her seatbelt. "She isn't worth my time anymore."

"How did things go last night after I dropped you off?" He asks, complying as he pulls out of the driveway and onto the paved road.

"They were asleep," she shrugs in response. "I expected nothing less, though. At least I didn't get yelled at for staying out late."

"I blame Alice for that," Emmett grumbles. "For some reason, she just loves to embarrass me in any way possible. I'm starting to think that you'll pick up that hobby too."

"You know, I think your family and I will get along just great," Hayden chimes, glancing over to him as a grin spreads across her lips. "They seem to know how to have fun, and I like that."