Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to Mrs. Meyer.

Chapter seven

Emma's pov

Ethan's mouth on mine felt like heaven. His kisses were loving and passionate and all I wanted to do was pull him closer. At least until he pulles away and started apologizing for kissing me. Then I just wanted to punch him.

"Ethan, why are you apologizing?" I asked in a hurt tone.

"I want to be friends with you first. I don't want to rush you."

"It's not rushing me if I want you to kiss me."

"No. Your dad will be pissed off enough at me as it is. I am going to at least going to keep that promise to him."

"You promised my dad you'd stay just friends with me?"

"Yes."

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. Of all the things to promise, that must have been the worst one of them. Here I was, willing to forgive him for screwing up with the whole Chelsea thing and he wanted to take a step back and be just friends.

"Fine, we'll be friends."

"Good."

"Let's see how good a friend you'll be when I change schools," I muttered under my breath.

Apparently I hadn't been as quiet as I thought, because Ethan tense beside me and stared at me with huge eyes. "You're leaving West High?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Ethan, try to remember how many friends I have in that retched school and then think about it."

"But you just told me yourself that you wanted to be the girl you once were and I swear people will be your friend, no matter how much my bitchy sister tries to put you down."

"Well, there's the other thing. Your sister has been spreading vicious rumors about me for years. Why should I befriend any of these kids when they all so willingly believed those lies? What kind of friends would they make?"

"But you can't just leave, that means everyone will believe even more of Charlotte's fibs."

"Well, I don't care any more. I want to get out of that hell hole."

"Emma, please, don't. Just stick it out till the end of the year. If nothing changes you can always transfer over the summer. Please."

"Why should I?"

"Because then I get to see you every day. If I don't have that, I have nothing worth going to school for."

He gave me a wicked smile that set the butterflies in my stomach aflutter and I found myself promising I would stay for the rest of the year. I could at least try to convince him to forget about his promise to my dad. He said I was beautiful, so maybe I could find a way to convince him, I'd have to ask my aunt Alice and Rosalie for advice, because there was no way I was asking mom about tempting a boy.

Edward's pov

I breathed a sigh of relief when I got home after work and Emma was already there, sitting with a book on the couch, alone. Bella might have reassured me that morning that Ethan wouldn't harm Emma, I was still worried sick about her all day. So instead of getting angry with her for skipping school like I probably should have, I merely kissed the top of her head and asked her if she was okay.

"I'm fine, daddy. Ethan and I talked about what happened and we agreed to be friends."

I nodded absently, happy to hear he hadn't changed his mind about that part. I wasn't so sure that, had I been in his place, I would have done the same noble thing. There was a reason Emma was created when her mother and I were still so young.

"That nice to hear. Honey, I wanted to talk to you for a minute about your transfer. Your mom and I have checked which schools we thought were suitable, but we've decided to leave the definite choice up to you."

Emma bit her lip and looked a bit sheepish, so the next words out of her mouth weren't entirely unexpected.

"Dad, I think I want to stay until the end of the year and see if with this new look of mine, things might be different. If I still want to change schools, I can do it over the summer."

I raised one eyebrow at her and asked: "And this has nothing to do with Ethan?"

"He wasn't happy about me leaving, so it might have had some influence, but when we talked about it some more, I realized I could give it another shot. It's not like I tried very hard to make friends myself."

"Where is this coming from?"

"Well after Ethan dropped me off around lunch, I had a lot of time to think about what I want and how things have been going so far and I think that maybe I could have worked a bit harder at it myself."

I felt my heart break for my little girl, trying to find out how to deal with the less pleasant side of growing up. I wished so much that I could take these burdens away from her, but knew this was a time when she had to figure things out for herself. I just hoped fervently that she would be happy again.

"I hope things will work out the way you are hoping for, sweet heart and if you need to talk I'm here for you, no matter what, okay?"

"Thanks, dad. I love you."

"I love you too kiddo. Now, your mom and Sophie are checking out a soccer team for girls that your sister wants to join, so they are eating out tonight. What do you say to pizza and a movie?"

Emma smiled happily. "I'd love to, dad. What movie do you want to watch?"

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"I do, but it depends on whether or not you want to veto a certain genre."

"Not necessarily, as long as it isn't too much of a girly girl film."

In the end we settled for Casino Royale. Emma stated it would have action for me and a hot guy for her. I cringed when she said it, because I really didn't want to think about whether or not she actually meant that.

Emma's pov

Watching Casino Royale with dad was so much fun. I purposefully sighed dreamily every time there was a shot of Daniel Craig without his shirt on, which drove dad absolutely crazy. I think at one point he even contemplated finding Daniel Craig and kicking his ass for making his little girl think of wrong things. Of course I eventually let him off the hook and told him I was just messing with him.

Mom and Sophie had come home half way through the movie, but since it was Thursday, Sophie couldn't watch the film with us. She stomped her foot and threw her version of a tantrum, which admittedly wasn't all that bad, but mom was her usual self and had her up and into bed within fifteen minutes. I seriously hoped that I would inherit her natural ability to be a good mom.

When she came back down she joined us and watched with a smile as I razzed dad. After the movie was over, she told me to go up to bed.

"I'll come up to talk to you for a minute before you go to sleep."

I frowned, not sure why she would want to talk to me, but I nodded any way. I lingered on the stairs but mom didn't start talking until I was upstairs. I smiled, yeah I hoped I inherited that trait.

Bella's pov

When Emma was out of earshot I climbed into my husband's lap and kissed him deeply. Watching him be an overbearing father over a movie star was so adorable, it only made me love him even more. Sometimes my love for him made my chest ache until I could touch him and kiss him and verify that he was truly here and loving me the same way. It was a blissful and scary at the same time.

"Baby? What's wrong?" he asked when he pulled back.

"I just love you so much I sometimes fear I am dreaming. I just need to confirm you're real."

He smiled crookedly, sending my heart rate into over drive. "Did you talk to Em about her options?"

"Yes and she surprised me."

"Surprised you how?"

"She wants to finish out the year and see how it goes with her new look."

I smiled. "Where did that idea come from?"

"I think Ethan may have had a hand in that."

"Well, what do you know. Maybe your wife was right that morning, that skipping one day of school wouldn't be all that bad for Emma."

Edward begrudgingly admitted I was right and kissed me softly. "I love you, baby. But I could do without your need to tell me 'I told you so' every time you're right about something."

"Don't be such a baby. I didn't even use those words."

"Yeah, but it boils down to it."

I laughed, happy with his bantering. "Okay, I need to chat with out daughter for a moment. I'll be right back."

"Wait, what did you say about Emma's absence today?"

"I went to the office and 'called' her in sick. She's excused for tomorrow as well."

"What? Bella, that's not exactly responsible parenting."

I snorted. If anything, Edward was the one who was a little too lenient with the girls. I doubted he told Emma how angry he had been when she ditched school today.

"Yes, and you grounded her when you came home, did you?"

His cheeks flushed a little as he ducked his head. "I didn't."

"Well, don't judge me until after I have talked to Emma. She's getting the consequences right now. If you want you can come up with me."

He nodded and followed me up to Emma's room. I knocked briefly before I went in. Emma was already in her pajama's and under the covers. She sat up as we came in and looked warily from me to Edward.

"Em, first of all I called you in sick so you're not going to school tomorrow. Now, before you think you've scored the jackpot, I have your homework assignments from today and I want you to have those done before I come home from school tomorrow, which you know is early."

I waited so Emma could respond, but she didn't say anything.

"Okay, aside from that, you're grounded for a week starting tomorrow. I won't take away your phone because this was the first time you did something like this, but I want you home straight from school for the entire week. Okay?"

"Okay, mom. Thank you for not getting angry with me."

"Well, every kid does things like this and your dad and I got lucky with you. I think we'll have to deal with a lot more from Sophie when she gets older."

Emma snickered quietly. "I'm glad I won't be around for that, college never sounded so good."

I laughed, hugging her. "I love you, Em. But next time you want to talk to Ethan, just agree to meet after class, okay?"

"Okay. I love you too, mom."

I kissed her cheek and went downstairs, noting that Edward had left us to ourselves. I found him at his piano, looking pensive.

"Edward? What are you thinking so hard about?"

"Just a few more years, Bells, and she'll be going off to college. Can you believe it?"

"No, but we have a few years to get used to the idea."

Emma's pov

The following day I slept in until ten, which caused me a bit of a problem, because I had to hurry through my homework before mom got home. After she did, we talked a bit about why I wanted to stay in school and how Ethan wanted to be friends first. She gave me wry smile when I told her that.

"I think I'm accurate when I say you don't want to be friends with him, right?"

I nodded. "I just don't know what to do about it."

"Try to be patient and if he keeps this up, you should ask your aunts for advice. I could give you some, but if you're anything like me, the thought alone embarrasses you."

I smiled gratefully. She was so right about that. We agreed to give Ethan until Christmas break and if he hadn't changed his mind then, we would call in reinforcements.

Every day in school, Ethan and I would hang out during lunch. We would talk about different things, carefully avoiding the subject of his sister, but not once did he even seem tempted to kiss me again, even though I really, really wanted him to.

So when Christmas break arrived, I was sorely disappointed. But, true to her word, mom called aunt Alice and aunt Rosalie and they enthusiastically agreed to come to my aid. Part of me was thrilled, but I also dreaded what was going to happen. I knew aunt Rose was usually pretty blunt and aunt Alice tended to get a bit overexcited, but I would just have to wait and see.

They agreed to take me and mom out shopping between Christmas and New year's while the men would get together with the younger kids and go to the zoo or something of the sort.

"So, now that the emergency plan is in motion, you should try to not think about it any more until we go out shopping with your aunts, okay?" mom asked.

"I'll try."

"Okay...And not a word to your father, okay? He would kill me if he knew I was calling in their help to make Ethan stop his gentlemanly behavior."

I cringed as the crude comments that aunt Rose or uncle Emmett would make when hearing her say that.

"Emma, shame on you! I didn't meant that!" mom cried out when she registered where my mind had gone.

"Sorry, mom. I was channeling aunt Rose, I think."

"Well, do me a favor and try to chaste down her advice."

"Chaste down? What does that even mean, mom?"

"It means you listen to her advice, think of what a nun would do with that advice and then take the average."

I laughed at her ridiculous expression. "Okay, mom. I'm sure you can help me there."

"I can. But, whatever happens, Em, if you tell Ethan no, that means no, okay? If he ever does something you're not comfortable with, I want you to come talk to me. I've been in a few situations like that myself and it can really hurt you if you keep that to yourself."

I nodded, remembering when mom told me a bit about her past a few months ago. I really felt blessed that she and dad had provided me and Sophie with this warm and loving home, when the both of them had had less than happy childhoods. I knew that mom hadn't told me everything and I was thankful for it, because I vaguely remembered one or two bad incidents where mom had been really freaked out after someone had touched her against her will. I wasn't ready to hear what caused her to react like that. I might never be ready to hear it all, but at least mom and dad found a way to deal with their pasts and put the bad experiences behind them.

A/N: I have been struggling with a small case of writers block. Every time I tried to getthis chapter in order, it kept getting screwed up, so I took a little break from writing and tried again. I hope you guys didn't mind the wait. I am truly sorry for it, but I just couldn't get it right.

Hugs,

Mo