More Than My Own Life (Twilight Fanfiction)

Twinkly Eyes

I was surprised with how easy it was to relax when people didn't hate me. Now that we weren't all living in constant fear, the girls from the orphanage seemed far more open to talking to me. I stood next to Nancy as she told a joke, and laughed with her three friends until my sides hurt. As Carlisle passed, they all hushed, and I looked over at him, confused.

"Ness, you are so lucky!" One of Nancy's friends said. I remembered that her name was Sarah. I looked at her, confused. Rolling her eyes at me, Sarah said, "Carlisle Cullen adopted you. You live in the same house as him. He is h-o-t, Hot! And a Doctor, and rich." I made a face. Even if he wasn't my Grandfather, it would have been weird. "He's years older than me." That was an understatement. Sarah sighed, looking over at Carlisle. "Ah, yes. A forbidden love. Besides, age is just a number". I shook my head at her as Nancy muttered, "And a prison cell is just a room. Go for Edward instead. He's super cute. And only a few years older than us. He's not even an adult technically, is he?" 

I shifted uncomfortably. "Um... no, I think he's 17." Nancy's quieter friend, Melina, spoke up. "Hey, then I'm 17, too." I turned to look at her. "Aren't you from the middle school dorm?" After a second of silence, we all burst into laughter. I glanced over at Edward, and saw him trying to hide a smirk. I wondered how my new friends would respond if I told them that he could hear them from across the room. 

"Well, I like Jacob. He's really nice." The other girls snickered at me. "Oh, yeah," Sarah cooed, "Is he nice?" Making a face at her, I insisted, "He is! And he's smart, and handsome, and funny..." I stopped talking as Sarah interrupted me. "And he's standing right behind you." I froze, then plastered a smile on my face as I turned to look at Jacob. He was smirking, and had obviously overheard me. "Hey, Jake, could you please go get me some punch? I'm really thirsty". Without hesitating, Jake said, "Yeah, of course," and started across the room.

I swung around and smacked Sarah on the arm. "Why didn't you tell me he was behind me?!" She pulled away laughing. "But I did tell you!" I groaned, flopping onto the ground. "I mean why didn't you tell me sooner?" Sitting down next to me, Nancy chuckled, "well, where's the fun in that?" 

Just as Carlisle started piling board games on the table, Jake returned with two cups of punch. His eyes lit up as he started towards the table full of games. "Hey, Ness," he called out, "You and your friends wanna play Apples to Apples?" I nodded, glaring at Sarah as she whispered, "Or we could play spin the bottle". Despite her teasing, the three of us made our way to the corner to wait for Jake. He returned with the game in hand, Bella and Rosalie both walking over with him.

"Hey, it's cool if these two play, too? The blonde one doesn't stand a chance at winning, anyway." Rosalie glared while we all tried to hide our giggles. "Yeah, sure. But... I don't know how to play. So I guess I don't even know how many people are able to play at once." Jake sat down next to me, announcing that the two of us were going to play as one team. I wondered why he decided to do that, but quickly realized that this game involved reading. 

Jake would whisper to me what the card said, and Rosalie and Bella played along, pretending that their super hearing wasn't picking up on what he was saying. Thankfully, the other girls didn't assume that I couldn't read. From the looks that they were sending me, they though Jake was looking for an excuse to sit close to me and whisper in my ear. Even with Jake and I teaming up, Sarah ended up winning. Even after she won, though, we kept playing, laughing as we went. 

Too soon, Esme announced that dinner was ready. We quickly packed up the game materials and placed them back on the table. Sarah darted between Jake and I, whispering to me, "We could still ditch and play spin the bottle". I laughed and gently pushed her away, though I was happy when she decided to sit next to me at the giant table. Jake sat on my other side, with Bella and Edward right next to him. Everyone else spread out, wanting to talk to the other kids.