Esme's P.O.V.

I took a look out the window and instantly loved where I would be spending my next two weeks.

The deep cherry red wooden door complemented the dark redish tinged bricks well. Whoever designed the house had taste. A butterfly danced near my head as I stepped out of the white limousine. It seems as though it would have come from the flower garden that was visible from the road, which lead up to the few steps before the door. I took the key from the waiting camera man and got one of my bags out of the back. The driver got my other bag for me - I'd managed to persuade Alice to only pack me two bags - and I walked up the cobblestone stone pathway. It reminded me greatly of the pathway at Bella and Edward's cottage. The garden was small but colourful, different types and shades of flowers scattered and circled the few small, but not fully grown trees.

The door opened smoothly with a quiet click. The layout was open-plan, simple, small, neat and tidy. The kitchen and dining room was to the left, family room to the right, and bedrooms and bathroom down the short hallway directly across the foyer entrance. All the flooring as far as I could see was polished wooden boards, and I certainly didn't smell any carpet fibres.

I wheeled both my bags down the hallway and stopped at the first door on my left. The pale wooden door was wide open and looked like the guest bedroom so I placed my bags next to the double bed and put my handbag on the plain white covers. I kicked off my black heels before investigating the house further.

The first bedroom I looked in; the one directly next to mine of the left, appeared to be an older teenagers room, but I saw no electronics which was intriguing. The near-bare walls were painted and off white. There was a lot of classical music lined up on the bookshelves and school books were lying on the violet covers of the single bed. Another thing I noticed was a guitar in the corner of the room by the desk. Maybe she was interested in music. I hoped her parents were feeing her intrests.

The door that was directly across the hallway was the bathroom and the door next to the lead to the master bedroom. I didn't want to intrude on their privacy so I skipped that and went onto the next and last room

The room was at the end of the hallway and had a plaster-of-paris moulded nameplate hanging on the door that read 'Emma'. They must just have two girls, and I assumed Emma was the youngest. I turned the handle and opened the door. Unlike the first bedroom, this was small, but that's not the thing - or things - that stood out the most. What jumped out to me was all the animal ornaments. There were mostly birds cluttering the wooden dressing table, but there were also dogs, cats, rabbits, goats, leopards, elephants and horses. They were all different sizes, colours and made from different materials. The biggest was a yellow, red and blue budgie and the smallest was a tiny white kitten on its back with its paws in the air. I tore my gaze from the little china figures and glanced around the rest of the room. Books took up most of the space on the bookshelf so there was little room for the colourful handmade clay vases that stood on the shelves squeezed in next to them. The covers on the bed were a light lemon yellow and the walls were bare except for the ballet poster that loomed above the bed.

I wandered back down the hallway and into the kitchen. They had photos of themselves scattered around the house. Two generic looking parents and two daughters. I found the manual sitting on the light dining room table. I pulled out a chair and sat myself down to start reading it. I heard the camera mechanisms zooming in on my face and the manual before I began. I opened the booklet and begun to read aloud.

"To the new mother of this household;

Welcome, my name is Morgan Clark and my husband is named William. We have two wonderfully talented and gifted daughters, Sophia, who is seventeen, and Emma, who is nine.

My children have nearly no free time unless spent with family as I believe if they do they will get into trouble, etc, smoking, parties, staying out late as so fourth. My children are involved in music tuition, graphic design, cooking classes and many more. It keeps them busy and out of trouble.

Emma gets up at seven in the morning and goes to bed at eight pm every night without fail. Her classes are ballet, piano and pottery. On Saturday she does woodwork. She likes to carve various animals and although I do not support such a time wasting activity I allow her to carry on with it because otherwise she would have to sit at home on Saturdays and that is not acceptable.

Sophia gets up at six in the morning and goes to bed at nine pm. She has a part time job at the local library every day after school. After that she either has a graphics or cooking class according to their schedule which is located on the fridge. On the weekend she has guitar and singing lessons. Sophia got into 'punk' music when she was fourteen but I did not allow it as it taught violent and secular ways. I only let my children listen to classical music as it enhances their mind.

We go to the local Catholic church every Sunday and I will not let my children date until they turn twenty. My husband has to work long hours (seven am to eight pm daily, except Sundays) and does not get to spend much time with the children or I. We all go to church together but afterwards William is usually busy with paperwork to do with managing his business.

Sophia gets to spend half an hour to an hour every day with her father and Emma only gets to see him is she is responsible enough to wake earlier than usual in the morning.

I despise untidiness and dirt so I keep my house in perfect condition and expect my children to clean up after themselves. I do not let my children eat any unhealthy food at all, even at birthday parties they are expected to make healthy choices. Sophia and Emma are only allowed to watch the television for one hour on Saturdays with adult supervision with the only exception being if it is required for homework.

Please take care of my children as I hope they will take care of you. I hope you and your family are able to learn a few things from this swap which you will carry with you for the rest of your lives.

Yours sincerely,

Morgan Clark.

I didn't know what to think, I only knew that these children needed to spend more time with their father and needed some more freedom! I didn't get much time to think over what I had just read as at that very second I heard their car pull up into the driveway. I went and sat down quickly on one of the large black sofas to wait for them to come through the door.

Of course I didn't have to wait very long.

Just as I was scanning the family room - there was a small black piano, a small flat screen television and a shaggy black rug, the door opened. A man walked in, he looked about in his fourties and his brown/grey hair was at the beginning of balding on the top and around his hairline. His garnet coloured eyes searched the family room and finally rested on me. Williams' eyes winded as he took me in, then he smiled warmly and turned to his children who had followed him inside.

"Well, say hello to your new mom."

A teenage girl walked up to me and I stood up to greet her.

"I'm Sophia. Nice to meet you" she declared and put her hand out. I looked into her bright blue eyes and shook her hand warmly.

"And I'm Esme." I smiled.

She smiled and stepped back to let her sister greet me.

Emma bounced forward and boldly hugged me. Luckily I was wearing a warm tank top under my green blouse so I hoped she wouldn't notice the coldness of my skin as much.I smiled and hugged Emma back. She finally released me and looked at me. Emma had light brown hair and bright blue eyes, a pretty combination. I glanced back at Sophia and decided she got her strawberry blonde hair from her mother.

"I'm Emma, I'm a little hyperactive as you can see."

"Nice to meet you finally, Emma." This girl would get on with Alice like two peas in a pod.

Emma went and sat down on the sofa with Sophia as William came up to me and shook my hand. Then he went and squashed in between his daughters, leaving me to sit on the other couch by myself.

"You know you don't have to squash together" I suggested, "one of you could sit next to me".

Emma took up my suggestion and without a word she came and plunked down next to me.

"So Esme," William started. I noticed he was wearing a suit, probably come straight from work especially for the swap. "Tell us a little about yourself."

"Yeah, like how many kids you have!" Emma blurted out.

"And what their names are." Sophia added quietly.

"Well," I said, taking a deep breath. I decided right there and then that I would hunt in a few days as my throat burned slightly. "I have eight children." I announced.

"But you look so young!" Sophia gasped.

"I have eight adopted children" I corrected, "and I'm twenty nine".

"What are their names?" Emma asked.

"Their names are Edward and Renesmee, who are brother and sister. Rosalie and Jasper, who are siblings also, Emmett, Bella and Alice, they're all brother and sisters, and then Jacob.

"How old are they all?" William inquired.

"Renesmee is the baby of the family and is fourteen, Alice and Edward are seventeen, Rosalie and Bella are eighteen and Jasper, Jacob and Emmett are nineteen".

"It must be hard" William noted, "taking care of eight adopted teenagers."

"Oh, no, they're perfectly well behaved. They're all my little angels." I defended, "They may come from troubled homes but they are very lovely once you crack their shells and get to know who's really inside."

"Well, it sounds like you have lovely kids Esme. Now, I apologize but I have to get back to work, I've got a lot to do today." And with that, William got up and walked out the door. I waited a minute until heard the car start up and drive away before I spoke.

"Does that always happen?" I asked Emma, who'd just swung her feet up onto the tiny couch.

"Yup" Emma replied, popping the 'p', "daddy spends all of his time at work. We never see him."

"Sorry Esme" Sophia apologised, "you must be tired. I'm guessing you would be wanting to go unpack and settle in?"

If I was honest I would say I wasn't tired. Of course that would be quite odd as I'd spent a whole day travelling. I wanted to find out more about this family and improve these childrens lives. "Yes, that sounds appealing" I lied. "What are you girls going to do now?"

"I've got to practice my guitar." Sophia informed me.

"And I have to clean my room." Emma piped up.

"Okay, I guess I'll go unpack."