All I Wanted Was the Truth

All I Wanted Was This

Emmett and Kaya were sitting at one of the picnic tables outside the school, chatting quietly. The sun peeked out through the dense clouds every once in a while, but the two sat at a table in the shade of a tall tree.

They had decided to skip their afternoon classes, prefering instead to stay outside in the cool, fresh air. Emmett was telling Kaya about the grizzly bears he had mentioned earlier.

"I told you we hunted animals!" he laughed. Kaya still couldn't seem to comprehend anybody fighting - and winning - against a bear. "And besides, when we're, you know, turned, we become a lot more ... durable. It's one of the perks, sort of." He smiled.

Kaya shook her head. "So let me get this straight. When you want to hunt," she said the word a bit laboriously, "You just go up into the mountains and wrestle a few bears."

He paused. "Basically, yeah. We don't need the nourishment as often as you humans do ... don't look at me like that! It's true." Kaya had glared, but nodded at him to continue. "We don't need it as much, so we go hunting every few weeks. We get to feed, and we get time off of school. It's nice to get out sometimes."

"I bet it is ..." Kaya replied, chuckling a bit. "So, do Edward and Jasper take part in the bear fighting, too?"

He shook his head. "We all sort of have ... preferences. I like grizzly bears, Edward likes mountain lions -" Kaya gaped, but Emmett continued, "And Jasper really takes anything that quenches his thirst."

"Mountain lions and grizzly bears." Kaya muttered. "And here I am, having waffles every morning for breakfast."

Emmett laughed. "To each his own. Er, her own."

She smiled, and then a thought struck her. "If you can live on blood, why do I see you and your family with food on your lunch trays in the cafeteria every day?" she wondered.

He shrugged. "It's just for show. We don't eat."

"Can you eat?" she pressed.

"Yeah, but it's like swallowing a mouthful of sand for us. Not really appetizing."

She grimaced. "That sounds nice."

"Anything else you want to know, now that I'm in quiz mode?" He grinned impishly.

Kaya thought for a few seconds. "I've seen Edward's car," she started, smiling. "And it's nothing like the pieces of junk I see rolling around Forks regularly. I've seen Rosalie's car, too. They're amazing."

Emmett sighed, smiling. "We all have fast cars."

"All of you have your own cars?" she blurted, shocked.

He nodded. "We try to be as normal as we can, but sometimes we give in. Standing out isn't always bad."

"So I take it you're well off." Kaya raised an eyebrow.

His smile widened slightly. "Well, Carlisle has been working as a doctor for around a century, so the money sort of builds up."

Kaya nodded sagely. "That makes sense." She paused. "Another thing I was wondering about..."

"What is it?" he asked.

"If you have so much money, why do you live in Forks?"

Emmett raised his eyebrows. "Come again?"

She rephrased. "You could live anywhere you want, and you choose the wettest, gloomiest town on the west coast. Why?"

He laughed, long and loud. Kaya was taken aback by his reaction. "What did I say?" she asked, bewildered.

He looked back at her, still snickering softly. "Well, you see, we really shouldn't go out in the sun."

"Why not? Would you burn up?" she inquired.

He snorted. "No. But it's more obvious we're not human when we're in the sun." he explained.

"I understand entirely, I'm glad we cleared that up." she retorted sarcastically.

"There's nobody around, is there?" Emmett muttered, suddenly speaking as if to himself. Kaya shook her head silently. "I guess I could show you ... come on," He stood up abruptly, gesturing toward the back parking lot, which was empty. "Over here."

They walked across the shaded pavement, Kaya following, intensely curious. The area behind the last few buildings was free of people, and was covered mostly in weak sunlight. Emmett stopped near the edge of the shadows, waving Kaya over.

"Watch this," he said, smiling happily. He stepped into the light, and Kaya's jaw dropped.

His pale skin shone brilliantly, even in the small amount of light peeking through the clouds at the moment. It seemed as though he was covered in white jewels, sparkling, throwing rays of pure light at the ground, walls, and trees around him. He was laughing. He threw his arms out wide. "So you see why we can't walk around sunny places filled with people!" he said, shaking with mirth.

Kaya's lips pulled up into a jubilant smile. "That's amazing!" She walked up to Emmett, looking closely, trying to find the source of the sparkling. All she could see was his marble smooth skin.

His head snapped up abruptly. "Somebody's coming." He moved quickly back into the shade with Kaya in tow.

"That's amazing," she repeated, her voice quiet. A few students rounded the bend of the school, talking loudly. They paid no attention to Emmett and Kaya. "The most amazing thing I've ever seen."

Emmett flashed her a grin. "You should see me when I run," he said in a low voice. "I can go faster than any car."

Kaya was enthralled. "Really?"

Emmett loved her reaction to everything he said - always so intent, so fascinated. It was flattering. He looked at her now, her wide eyes, her eager smile. She seemed like a different person than the girl he'd met so recently.

He hadn't known her at all before Bella Swan moved to Forks, and he had asked her to keep an eye on Edward for him. Back then, she had seemed distant, quiet, withdrawn, maybe even angry. She never ate lunch with other people, as far as he knew. But now she was more open and friendly - when he was around, at least. Edward always said she was alone in class. Emmett liked to think he was having a positive impact on her.

He nodded. "I was running pretty fast when I took you to the forest, but that was nothing. I can go ten times faster than that."

Kaya whistled. "Faster than a speeding bullet."

"Way faster." They were walking through the small patch of trees outside the high school. Kaya was preoccupied trying to get her shoelace out of a root, and didn't notice the branch that was about to hit her in the face. "Watch out!" Emmett said, grabbing the branch.

Kaya jumped, looking up. "Thanks, Emmett." Her eyes widened. "What is that?" she asked, pointing.

Emmett looked down, biting his lip. "Oops." He was holding the branch in his hand; in his rush to get it out of Kaya's way, he had ripped it off of the tree. He threw it into a bush.

Kaya laughed, shaking lightly. "And strong, too. Then again, with muscles like those, it's not all that surprising." she joked.

"Another perk." he said.

She looked at him. "Your eyes are dark," she mused. "Are you thirsty?" Her voice faltered only slightly at the word.

He smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes this time. "Yeah, Edward and I are going hunting tomorrow."

"It's not bear season," she said, a smile playing around her lips. "And I don't think it's mountain lion season, either."

"We don't take many," he said absentmindedly. "Well, not any more than we need." he corrected.

They had come out of the trees now; they had circled around and were now on the other side of the parking lot. "The Volvo is gone," said Emmett, frowning. "Where did Edward go?"

"As if you'll be stranded here without a car." Kaya said.

He peered at her, smirking. "Well, no, but Ed usually tells us when he's leaving." He stopped, looking on up the road. "I think he's coming back now."

Sure enough, the silver Volvo sped around the corner and into the parking lot. Edward Cullen was clearly visible in the driver's seat, looking a bit distressed. Emmett made his way over, and Kaya followed uncertainly.

"Where did you go?" Emmett asked, as his brother stepped out of the car.

Edward paused, glancing at Kaya. "I dropped Bella off at home. She had a bit of a fainting spell in Biology and had to go to the nurse."

Kaya almost laughed, but managed to hold it back. She stayed quiet.

Emmett, however, chuckled lightly. "How is she?"

"She'll be fine, I'm sure. At least, I hope so." His brow creased. His gaze fell suddenly upon Kaya. "Shouldn't you be in class?" he asked.

Kaya blinked. "Well, yes, but -"

"We were talking." Emmett said, frowning sternly at his brother. "We decided to skip the rest of the day."

"How are your grades, Kaya?" Edward asked politely. The edge in his voice was nearly gone.

She thought. "They're okay. Mostly A's and B's."

Edward nodded his approval. "Then I suppose skipping isn't that bad for you."

Kaya remained silent.

"Stop questioning her, she didn't commit a crime." Emmett scolded. He turned to Kaya. "Look, me and Ed were going to leave early to get a headstart on the weekend."

Edward nodded. "We should go, Emmett."

He sighed. "I guess so. I'll see you next week, then, Kaya." He grinned.

Kaya smiled back. "Have fun hiking."

Emmett winked. "I always do."
♠ ♠ ♠
I switched from Kaya's point of view to the third person to get a different feel for writing - you know, to see what it was like. Most of the story will be Kaya's point of view but once in a while I'll write it like this, so we can get somebody else's thoughts, too. Like Emmett's in this one.

Please excuse spelling, spell check won't work.

Please comment.

Note the title - "All I Wanted Was This". What I mean by it is the day was a good one, for both Emmett and Kaya. Nothing really went wrong at all.