Burning Bright

I stood in the middle of the crowded airport holding the straps of my backpack tightly. People shoved past me trying to get to their loved ones or just to get out of this place. I wished I could do that right. I felt so uncomfortable being around all these people by myself, I almost wanted to cry. Instead I quickly made my way over to one of the plastic chairs and stood on top of it hoping I would be able to spot my cousin easily as she was the one picking me up.

I was to be living with her and my uncle for the remainder of my schooling. My mother had decided that I was too much of a problem child so instead of her having to deal me with me, she left it up to her brother. It still bothered me as to why she thought I was so much trouble. My grades may not have been that great but at least I wasn’t failing. I never went out to parties or anything. I just never went anywhere, period. I never said anything wrong but then again I never spoke. It must have been about two years now since I’ve said anything. Was that it?

Suddenly feeling like an idiot I jumped down from the chair. I craned my neck over all the heads in my way but I still couldn’t find her. Panic was starting to strike through my body and it made my breathing ragged. What if my mother never told them I was coming? What if I was just sent away so I wouldn’t be a burden to anyone?

Tears began welling up in my eyes and I was about to run to whatever exit I could find when I suddenly heard someone calling my name. I looked over toward where I heard the sound and saw a very fragile looking girl walking toward me.

Oh thank heavens it’s Bella. I let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey, Crystal. I’m glad I finally found you. You must have been worried,” she said, hugging me.

I just shrugged my shoulders when she let me go. Looking behind her I noticed a brown haired boy with his arm slung over Bella protectively. I gazed at his face and noticed he was gorgeous. Every feature about him was perfect. I looked at his eyes and noticed they were a pretty topaz color but there was something else in them. It looked like they held…confusion?

I lifted an eyebrow and I looked back at Bella. She smiled at me and placed her hand on the chest of the boy.

“Crystal, this is Edward. He’s my boyfriend,” she introduced. “Edward this is my cousin, Crystal.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Edward said, smiling softly. He still looked at me confused.

“Oh, um, Crystal doesn’t speak by the way. I’m sorry I should have said something earlier.” Bella’s eyes dropped and her cheeks flushed.

Mine were burning and I looked down at my shoes hoping to hide it.

“Ah, I see,” Edward said as if he understood.

Bella gave an awkward cough and grabbed my hand.

“C’mon let’s go grab the rest of your luggage, okay?” She said leading me off into the crowd. Edward followed beside Bella holding onto her other hand.

A couple minutes later we were standing in front of a conveyer belt watching as suitcases slid by.

“Which is yours?” Edward asked me staring at the machine.

I looked at all the luggage trying to find mine but I couldn’t see it. I almost began wondering if maybe they had sent it to some other flight and it was in Mexico right now. I was soon proven wrong when I saw three purple suitcases enter onto the little belt. I pointed to them and Edward nodded going to retrieve them. I followed him figuring he wouldn’t be able to carry them all but to my astonishment he grabbed them all with ease.

“Shall we go?” he said with a polite smile.

I nodded my head and followed him toward where I assumed was the exit with Bella at my side. We walked out the sliding doors and into the parking lot stopping at a shiny Volvo. Bella unlocked the doors and opened the trunk and Edward placed by bags in. It started drizzling and we all got into the car right before it started pouring.

“Welcome to Forks,” Bella said looking back at me and rolling her eyes.

I just laughed quietly and looked over toward Edward. He was driving now but I caught his gaze looking at me from the rear view mirror. His brows were furrowed as if he was trying hard to concentrate on something. When he noticed I was looking back at him he quickly averted his eyes.

What’s with this guy? I wondered.

Suddenly Edward jumped ever so slightly in his seat and he looked at me again confused.

“Are you alright?” Bella asked him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he stated and continued driving.

The rest of the ride was silent. Or at least I’m assuming it was. I fell asleep ten minutes into the drive and when I awoke we were in front of Bella’s house. Edward had grabbed my bags again and Bella was motioning me to follow her.

When I walked in Charlie was sitting on the couch watching a basketball game but he immediately got up once he noticed Bella and me.

“Hey, Crystal, it’s great to see you again,” he said giving me an awkward hug. I smiled politely back at him.

“Why don’t you have Bellz show you to your room?” he offered going back to watching the game.

Bella took my hand again and led me down a small hallway with a door opened. It was a small bedroom with only a bed, closet and dressers along with a window looking out toward the woods. Edward had already set my bags in the room but I wasn’t sure where he was now.

“Well this is where you will be staying,” Bella said standing beside the door frame. “Sorry it’s a little small.”

I shook my head to show that it was fine and walked in. I set on the bed and noticed that it was extremely comfy. I couldn’t wait to fall asleep on it tonight.

“Okay so I’m going to start on dinner. Want to help?” she offered, starting toward the kitchen.

I jumped up and followed her. I wanted to help out as much as I could if I was staying here. The last thing I wanted was to be a burden and I’m sure Bella would appreciate me helping her cook and clean.

I walked into the kitchen to find Bella getting out a packet of ground chuck and on the counter sat a box of macaroni and cheese. I decided to get started on that and let Bella handle the meat. I usually ended up burning it.

As I looked around for a pot the phone rang.

“Hello,” Bella greeted, picking it up.

There was silence for a moment as the other person spoke and then Bella’s tone become aggravated.

“No, Jake, don’t. I’m telling you- ” her sentence was cut off and she angrily threw the phone done.

I was utterly confused by the conversation but thought nothing of it. It wasn’t business to get into so I went back to finding a pot.

Finally I found one and walked it over to the sink to fill it with water. Edward had come into the room now and was whispering to Bella. I turned my back away from them to give them some privacy.

Suddenly someone barged through the door and was shouting.

“Now you listen here, Bella,” a guy shouted, stomping into the kitchen.

I was startled and I jumped causing the pot to clatter to the floor and the water to splash everywhere. Quickly I bend down to retrieve it and when I looked back up the boy whom I assumed was the one to storm into Bella’s house was staring at me. My cheeks started burning from embarrassment. This guy was pretty handsome. He had russet colored skin, brown eyes, and longish black hair. Not too mention he wasn’t wearing a shirt showing off his perfect abs. Great, I just made myself look like a total idiot in front of him.

I’m not sure why but he stared at me for a good minute. Was I that amusing to watch? I mean, yeah, I did drop the pot and caused water to pour all over me. Thank Merlin I was wearing a black long sleeve shirt. Still, why was he looking at me as if he would fall off the face off the earth?

Please, stop staring. Please, stop staring. I begged inside my head.

Finally Edward took a step toward him and spoke.

“Jacob? May I have a word, please?” Edward asked politely but there was still an edge in his voice.

“Shut up, leech,” Jacob replied still staring at me.

Jacob started walking towards me and it felt like my whole body was on fire. It felt nice though I was sure my cheeks were a bright tomato red. He put his hand under my elbow and slowly lifted me up, staring into my eyes. I was entranced by his eyes and a part of me felt like I would melt away if I stared any longer and the other part thought I would shatter if I looked away. So I stood there with the fire running through my body as his eyes bore into mine.

"Hey," Jacob whispered. His voice was so soft.

Suddenly Bella was by my side, pulling me a step away from Jacob.

“Uh, Jake, Crystal doesn’t talk,” she said, sounding as if she didn’t want him to talk to me at all.

“That’s cool,” he said, his eyes still gazing at me.

“Jacob, I need to talk to you now,” Edward demanded, this time walking out of the room.

Jacob finally tore his gaze from mine to glare at where Edward at been and started walking out. He shot a glance back at me and mouthed I’ll be back.

Once he was out the door I felt the fire was gone and I was cold.

Bella took my hands and I looked over at her. She was biting her lip and she looked worried. I rubbed my thumb over her hand as if to ask what was wrong.

“I’m sorry Crystal. A lot has just happened and I’ll explain everything later, okay? Right now I should probably go talk with Jacob and Edward. I’ll be back in a couple minutes.” Bella said, dropping my hands and walking out the same way the guys had gone.

I was confused again but I didn’t want to think about it. Thinking usually made me do things that got me into trouble. Instead I decided to busy myself with making dinner. The first thing I did was clean up my mess. It wasn’t until I dropped the pot again I noticed I was shaking.