chapter 6

Chapter 6: Audition

As I walked downstairs I heard faint laughter coming from the kitchen. It was the same angelic laugh and dazzling chuckle I had heard all my life.

"What's so funny?" I asked my parents as I entered the kitchen. Like yesterday, my breakfast had been laid out on the table for me. Omelets.

"Nothing, Nessie," Edward told me, his arm wrapped around Bella's waist. I smiled at the happy couple.

"So Nessie, I was wondering what made you hate your clock so much to destroy it?" Bella giggled, Edward chuckled again. I rolled my eyes.

"It was that stupid beeping. Anyway, who set it? I was in the middle of a good dream," I asked them.

"Sorry, it was me. I thought that maybe you'll sleep in a little later than usual because you woke up again in the middle of the night," Bella explained. "You might have missed school so I
set the clock. You know there was a button at the back that said 'off'?"

I rolled my eyes again.

"So today's the big day, huh?" Edward commented but it came out more of a question. I gave him a confused look. "The audition?"

"Oh shoot, I completely forgot!" I said in shock. Good thing I had changed it to 'oo' from 'i'. Though I had heard Bella and Jake say it many times (not Edward, he was 'old fashioned' I
didn't know how they'd feel about a 6 year old saying it.

"Don't worry, you know the notes perfectly," Bella reassured. "I'll go get your guitar and its case from upstairs." With that she walked at human speed out of the room. I wondered why she didn't just go normal speed (by that I meant normal for vampires) then I realized I was alone with Edward.

"Dad, I'm so sor-" I was cut off when he pulled me into an unexpected hug.

"Do not apologize Renesmee Cullen," he said in a harsh voice when he let me go. "It is I that should be apologizing for the way I treated you. I didn't trust you and thought you weren't
responsible but unmistakably you are more responsible than me. I could see that the way you were able to calm down yesterday when Bella asked you to." He smiled to himself then continued, "You are very similar to your mother, not just by your appearance. You were born more mature than you should have been, at least 10 years older then you should be." We both laughed at his poor sense of humor.

A thought popped up into my mind. Bella knew Edward so well in some ways...

"What are you thinking?" Edward asked. I laughed slightly; wasn't that what he always used to ask mom?

"Mom knows you well," I answered. "You always blame yourself for everything.???Oh no, Nessie's just robbed a bank, it's my entire fault.' 'Oh no, Nessie is bullying someone at school, it's my fault.' 'Oh no, Nessie just failed all her subjects, it's all my fault.' Wasn't I the one who tried to attack you?"

Edward shook his head at me. "No, Nessie, it really is my fault. I was the one who jumped to conclusions. And all the examples you just said, if they happened - which they won't because a: we can buy you anything you want, b: you're one of the kindest, sweetest person I've met and c: I've taught you enough for you to achieve an A in every subject - it would be my fault too because I'm supposed to care for you and teach you how to behave and be a good role model but there I was, starting an argument on a small assumption."

"You know what they say, when you assume you make an ass out of you and me," I told him trying to change the conversation away from the horrible subject. He caught on and let me finish eating my breakfast.

"So here you are, I've put your guitar in the backseat of your car," Bella said walking into the kitchen.

"Thanks I should get going," I swallowed the disgusting medicine and kissed both my parents on their cheeks. "If I get in to the club I'll be a little late coming home, the orchestra practice every Tuesday."

"When you get back from practice we'll celebrate," Bella emphasized the words.

I smiled at their support then climbed into my car and drove to school.

When I got there Ryan was there waiting for me. He grinned at me, his pearl-white teeth bright against his dark skin; somehow he reminded me a little of Jacob.

"Hi," he greeted me.

"Hey, how'd you get here so early?" I asked. Not many people were outside.

"My older brother dropped my on his way to morning detention," Ryan answered.

I raised my eyebrow. "You're not much like your older brother are you?" Ryan laughed. I got my guitar out of my back seat and he walked me to building 4, into classroom.

Mr. Morris was there, my Music teacher.

"Hello kids!" he said cheerfully. "Great to see you! So Ms. Cullen, why don't you play us a tune?" I sat down on one of the tables and started playing. At first I was nervous but then I
really got into it. I stopped at the end and slowly looked up at Ryan and Mr. Morris. Their mouths hung open.

"Tha- that's amazing!" Mr. Morris exclaimed. "I didn't know you could play that great! You're defiantly in the club!"

I grinned wildly. "Really? Oh thank you!"

"That was amazing Renesmee!" Ryan said, coming out of shock. The bell rang loudly in my ears. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

"Oh, I gotta put my guitar back then go to class," I told them as I grabbed my guitar and started to half-walk, half-skip down the hallway. Since it was only the first bell no one was
rushing to class so it was much easier for me to get to my car and carefully place my magical guitar in the trunk.

First lesson: calculus. It was my first time taking it but I didn't think I'll enjoy it. Dad had obviously taken it a thousand times and said he absolutely hated it. I giggled remembering that he wished he could sleep because it was so boring.

The teacher's name was Mr. Bunk. Because I hadn't taken the class yet I had to introduce myself to the students. A few of the girls giggled when I said my name, I just rolled my eyes.
Gloomily, I sat at the front which was only the empty desk. Why doesn???t anyone sit at the front? I wondered. Something in my brain clicked. Mr. Bunk was the one of the worst teachers,
Ryan had told me. Why? I asked. Because when ever he talks, he spits, or in a nicer term sprays saliva everywhere.

This was why the girls were actually giggling; they knew I would have to sit here. Groaning quietly, I shrunk into my seat.

He droned on about the definition of calculus and how important it was but I didn't take any of it in. I zoned out and started doodling in my note book and taking decoy notes at the same time. Before I knew it, it was the end of the lesson.

The days flew by and became months. Suddenly it was December and Christmas break had started.

Ever since I turned 1 I had always spent Christmas Eve at La Push with the packs and their relatives (and now Charlie too). We would eat turkey and sit around the bonfire.

Mom and Dad weren't invited but they didn't take it personally. They didn't, after all, eat real food. Instead they would go quite far to hunt with Edward's family. At first I found it upsetting
that I couldn't spend Christmas Eve with both of sides of my family but at least I got to spend Christmas Day with them.

I woke up Christmas day at 5am, not wanting to miss the fun. I rushed about, quickly showering and getting ready. I knew everyone was waiting at Grandma and Grandpa's house (except Mom and Dad) where all the presents were. They had promised to wait for me to get there before they opened them but they (meaning Emmett) could get very impatient.

"I'm ready mom!" I told her when I ran into the living room where she and Edward where watching 'A Christmas Carol'.

"Excellent! I was getting tired of this movie anyway," Bella said jumping up from the sofa. I was surprised by her appearance; she wore a dark red knee-length dress with long black boots.

"Aunt Alice?" I asked her. She sighed and nodded. It was a reasonable explanation.

Together, our small family of three walked through the ankle deep snow (getting higher and higher) into the larger Cullen household.

"Merry Christmas guys!" Alice greeted us as soon as we walked in.

"Merry Christmas Aunt Alice!" I said. I hugged every member of my family as if I hadn't seen them for months when really I saw them 3 days before.

Years back before I was born and mom hadn't met dad yet the Cullen family didn't celebrate Christmas. Well not that much because they were always moving about. Instead they would go hunting but Aunt Alice would get presents for the family (any excuse to go shopping).

But now it was different. The Cullen family went all out, with a Christmas tree and lots more presents and they even decorated the inside and outside of the house (though not many people would be even see it).

The Christmas tree was like any Christmas tree: very tall, nearly touching the ceiling with a bright star at the top, very wide and dark green. Alice had decorated it with meters of long silver tinsel all wrapped around the tree carefully and neatly with sparkling red and gold baubles hanging.

"Bella, open my present!" Alice shrieked with joy handing mom a large square package wrapped in shiny green wrapping paper and a gold bow.

Bella sighed and ripped the wrapping paper off. She hated getting gifts and had insisted that no one get her anything on her birthday since she no longer aged. She unfortunately forgot to mention holidays too so now every Christmas she was showered with gifts.

Inside she found a glittery silver necklace with a number of diamonds clinging to it.

"I tuned it down this year," Alice told her. Bella smiled at her and gave her a hug.

It went on like this for a while. The lot of us opening our presents and thanking each other.

After New Years on Monday I was back to school. Through the first lessons I was with Jennifer and Ryan. We chattered the whole time about the holiday and what we did. Jennifer went
to Egypt with her family and saw the pyramids. I had travelled a lot with my family for my whole life but we never got to go to Asia or any part of it because of the much brighter beaming sun that would expose us vampires (and hybrids) so I fascinated by what Jennifer described. Predictably she just talked about her holiday romance with a guy named Julian.

My last lesson before lunch was Calculus. Great.

I sat in my usual seat and used my curly brown hair to hide my face from Mr. Bunk's disgusting saliva as it bounced around the room.

I stared at my desk and started writing notes just to block my face. The door creaked open.

"Looks like we have another new student," Mr. Bunk said. I looked up and saw HIM.

He was like nothing I had ever seen. His skin was dark, not like Jake's or Ryan's, but more chocolaty. His hair was dark brown too and curly. Though he dressed like most boys - jeans and a
shirt - he looked smart. And just to clarify, he was drop dead handsome.

Stop it, I thought. I already love Jake. It was just a harmless crush. I stole a peek towards the back and saw all the other girls were staring at him opened-mouthed as well. So I wasn???t the only one thinking like this.

"My name's Lucas," he introduced himself. He handed Mr. Bunk a slip to sign, similar to the one I had on my first day and sat down in the only seat available. Next to me.

The scent came to me in a rush. It smelt a little of human blood but it wasn't appealing at all. It was like the scent of vampire venom and the stench of wolf. I had no idea what it was of but I knew it came off Lucas. I knew he wasn't really human.