War

The next morning I woke up in a familiar room. It was the room Daddy and I slept in whenever we came to visit. The thought of Daddy made tears come to my eyes again. I sniffled a bit and wiped my eyes, before getting up and walking out into the hall. It was mostly silent, but I could hear voices coming from downstairs.

I slowly descended the stairs and trudged into the kitchen. All conversation stopped at the sight of me.

"Morning, Jessa," Auntie Em greeted. I smiled up at them and climbed up into a chair. I saw that only Jacob, Embry, and Jarred were sitting at the table. Auntie Em was cooking breakfast and Uncle Sam was helping.

"Hey kiddo, how ya doing?" Jarred asked, pulling me into his lap. I beamed up at him and looked at what he and Embry and Jake were doing. They were playing cards.

"Was that?" I asked, pointing at them.

"We're playing Blackjack," Jarred explained. When he saw the lost look on my face, he laughed. "We'll teach you when you're older."

"No you won't!" Uncle Sam warned, giving the boys a look. I giggled a bit.

There was a bang from the front of the house and footsteps thundered down the hall. Paul, Leah, Collin, and Brady appeared at the door.

"Paul!" I squealed, jumping down from Jarred's lap and standing at Paul's feet. He picked me up and kissed me on the forehead.

"Hey Jessie," he greeted, sitting down next to Jarred. Leah, Collin, and Brady sat down around the table too.

"Perfect timing boys!" Auntie Em said, bringing pans of food to the table. "I just finished cooking!"

The boys whooped and hollered and dug in. Paul gave me some food first before getting some himself.

After breakfast, we were trying to decide what to do.

"How about the beach?" Jake suggested. Everyone agreed and scattered to get things ready.

An hour later, I was racing across the beach as fast as my little legs could carry me, heading toward the water. When I reached the shoreline, frigid sea water covered my legs halfway up my shins. I shrieked and jumped back, giggling. I was so caught up in my game, I didn't notice someone walk, up behind me until two big arms wrapped around my waist and picked me up. I looked up and saw the culprit. Paul.

He started walking deeper into the water.

"Paul!" I screamed. He laughed and waded deeper, before lowering me into the water. I screeched happily, trying to climb up his arms. Finally, he yanked my back up and held me in his arms, keeping my warm. I looked up at him and grinned widely.

"Ready Jessa? Hold your breath!" I did as I was told just as he dived under a wave. We were under for only a few moments. We popped out of the water and I screeched again, partly because of how cold it was and partly because of how fun it was.

I wiped my eyes and looked up at Paul, who was smiling down at me.

"Again! Again!" I squealed, clapping my hands. Paul laughed and dove under once more. We did this again quite a few times, until the Jarred, Jake, Collin, Brady, Embry, and Quil decided to join in. It soon developed into a game of keep away.

Jarred, Collin, Brady, and Paul were on one team, while Jake, Embry, and Quil were one the other, with me as the ball. I was passed around from one pair of arms to another, laughing wildly when I was thrown into the air and caught. Eventually, other people arrived, and Jarred left to say hi to someone, evening out the teams.

We were having so much fun, we didn't realize the sun was almost gone until Auntie Em called us in for dinner. I was carried in by Paul, who was holding me close so I didn't freeze. When we reached the fire, I wrapped up in a towel and sat in Paul's lap. We weren't sitting there long before another car pulled up and one of my best friends stepped out.

"Claire!" I screamed, running towards my cousin. I hugged her and we started a game of tag. We were in the middle of playing when we heard a growl. We looked up and saw that everyone besides Auntie Em was standing up, looking at something. They were staring at a silver car. The doors opened and three people stepped out. Two were really pretty grown ups, and one was a girl around mine and Claire's age.

"Paul? What's wrong?" I asked, tugging on his pant leg. He looked down and the angry expression on his face melted away.

"Nothing, darling," he said, lifting me up. I snuggled against him and rested my head against his chest.

"Hello Bella, Nessie." I looked up and saw Jake smiling at the pretty girl and the little girl. He turned to the boy, his face stony, and nodded. "Edward."

"Jacob," the boy greeted. A tense silence soon followed.

"Dinner's ready!" Auntie Em announced.Everyone headed toward the fire. Once again, Paul got my food before getting his. I sat down in the sand with Claire and the girl named Nessie sat down with us.

"Hi!" I said, smiling. She smiled back.

"Hi! I'm Nessie!" she said.

"I'm Jessa, this is Claire!" I introduced. We started to talk about random things when we heard another growl. I looked up, and this time, it was just Paul and the boy named Edward.

"Watch it flea bag," Edward warned. "Kids are here."

I don't know what a flea bag is, but I knew that it was something mean, because Paul got angrier. He started to shake. Auntie Em tried to grab us kids, but I was too fast. I marched up to Edward and stamped my foot.

"Leave him alone!" I yelled angrily. All eyes were on me. "Don't call him names! That's mean, you big jerk-face!"

Nessie stomped toward me.

"Don't talk to my daddy like that!" she screamed. She towered over me, but I wasn't scared.

"I can if I want to!" I argued. "Your daddy was being mean to my Pauly!"

"Your Pauly was being mean to my daddy!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was t-"

Nessie was cut off by the two of us being pulled away from each other.

"Stop it, both of you!" Uncle Sam and that meanie Edward barked. I looked at Nessie, who was in her daddy's arms and stuck out my tongue.

"At least my daddy's around!" she yelled. Tears welled in my eyes. I wiggled out of Uncle Sam's grip and took off toward the forest. I didn't know where I was going, but I didn't care.