"What is it that upsets her?" Bella's voice drifted up the stairs, filling the room, even though the girl was trying to be quiet. She probably didn't even know Rose hid upstairs.
She heard Edward exhale slowly as if it was difficult to explain.
"Rosalie struggles the most with... with what we are. It's hard for her to have someone on the outside know the truth. And she's a little jealous."
Rosalie squeezed her eyes shut again, ignoring the dip to her stomach. For once she couldn't even feel angry.
"Rosalie is jealous of me?"
She almost laughed at that. It might've been flattering, had Rose not known what Edward would say next.
"You're human. She wishes that she were too."
☾
Violet let out a scream as the door to her Jeep swung open, almost making her topple from the vehicle to the workshop floor. The face that stared down at her, eyes looking backwards from the awkward angle she rested at, did not look apologetic. A hand found her shoulder and tugged her upward.
"Why are we up this early?" Jacob explained, hair hanging limply around his tired face. Even with his eyes rounded like an owl's, he looked weary. She wondered briefly if the expression on his face was curated to make her feel guilty, but Violet only laughed.
"I have an hour spare before school. I want to see what's so wrong with this car you're fixing," she said, using his hand to pull herself up. "I promised your dad."
It was still dark, being early morning, and the trees that surrounded the garage were tall enough to block the watery rays of dawn, but Violet found her way easily around her little section of the workshop, letting her hands find the strap of her school bag. Her dad sat in the front office, flicking through his pile of paperwork. The radio sounded brand new from where it was playing by the back door.
"You're serious about helping with that?" Jacob asked as they waved to Mr Green and slid below the old metal shutters, readying to brace the rain.
"It's either that or your dad doesn't get the car."
"Hey, I could fix it fine on my own!"
She could barely hear his shout from beneath the sound of clattering rain, the water dripping through her clothes in only a few short seconds. Even the clang of the door to Jacob's truck was muffled by the sound of the weather as a sharp howl of wind shook the vehicle.
"Then why haven't you?"
He blinked at her for a moment, before remembering what they'd been talking about, and scowled. "You're lucky my dad likes you."
Violet waited to speak until he'd pulled away from the garage and was driving steadily down the blurry road.
"Or what?"
"Or I'd stop the car and make you get out," he said, the glare eventually softening to indifference.
With white knuckles, Violet clutched the bottom of her seat as the car stuttered lightly as Jacob went up a gear. It was her turn to whip around to him, glowering as he wiggled around with the gear stick.
"Are you even old enough to have your license?"
"I can drive perfectly fine, thank you," Jacob scoffed, speeding up slightly as proof.
"That didn't answer the question!"
Yet despite the lack of legality in Jacob's driving, they made it to Billy Black's small house in one piece. The man was waiting on the edge of the porch, a tartan blanket resting over his legs in the wheelchair. He was smiling as they walked up.
ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ
Start from the beginning
