Page 101

It had been a little while since Emmet's punishment, and everyone was fairly content with their lives.

Renesmee was still growing rapidly. She appeared to be around 8 years old now, despite only being born in September of last year.

And although the little hybrid's growth rate was cause for concern, all of the coven members did their best to limit the amount of worry they felt for the small kid.

Even though the atmosphere surrounding the house was happy, there was one member within the family that had hit a new peak in their anxiety levels.

Pearl had gotten a lot of time to think over all of the advice she had received regarding the situation of her and Bree's current relationship, and on this day, she was desperately trying to find the courage she would need in order to ask her imprint out on a date.

'Okay, come on. The worst she can say is no. Right? It won't go terribly. I've just got to say what I feel. That's not that hard, right?'

Edward spoke up from behind me in a sarcastic tone. "Yes, cause you talking about your feelings is the easiest thing in the world."

I stopped pacing back and forth to glare at him, but as soon as I did, I noticed the smirk on his face.

"If you're not going to help me, then why are you here?" I asked in a frustrated tone.

Edward gave me a teasing smile, then replied with, "One. I never said that I wasn't going to help you. Two. This is very entertaining to watch. And three. You are completely overthinking this."

A growl bubbled up from my chest. I'm pretty sure it reached everyone's ears in the entire house, despite me using my gift to hide both mine and Edward's presence.

I seriously don't need anyone eavesdropping on this conversation, so hiding both me and Edward was the best solution to ensure that no one would overhear.

'If this is so entertaining for you, then I'm just gonna hide my thoughts.'

"No please don't!" The mind reader shouted in a frantic panic. Desperate to have access to his form of entertainment.

"You suck." I muttered under my breath in response to his out cry.

He just chuckled at me and tried to regain his composure. Once he did, he started talking again, this time in a much calmer manner. "Bree cares for you. And it doesn't take being an empath or a mind reader to see that."

"Yeah! I know she cares for me! But what if it's purely platonic feelings?! We've never spoken about romance!"

"I'm pretty sure-"

"The only time romance was ever the subject of conversation between us, was when her and Alice made me watch that god awful romantic comedy film!"

"I get that, but-"

"I mean, come on! That shit was awful! But she thought it was cute! Am I supposed to ask her out like that guy did in the film?! I don't wanna do that!"

"Pearl, that's hardly-"

"This is fuck! I'm fucked! I'm gonna fuck this up so bad that she's gonna bury me alive! Or what if she never wants to see me again?!"

"Pearl-"

"She's gonna reject me and I'll have to live under a bridge for the rest of my life, eating nothing but cockroaches and centipedes!"

"Pearl you're being-"

"Well I have eaten bugs before, so I suppose it won't be so bad. All my taste buds will just rot and disintegrate, along with my sanity!"

"Pull yourself to-"

"I'm gonna die! I'll be alone forever, destined to wander the earth for eternity as a phantom! I'm gonna be a Phantom Wolf!"

"OWW!" I shouted in pain and held my left cheek, as Edward lowered his hand that he had slapped me with.

"What the fuck was that for?!"

"You were freaking out." He responded calmly, like slapping someone was a completely normal thing to do when they are panicking.

"So you slapped me?!" I yelled in disbelief.

"Yes." He said, and raised his hand up again threateningly. "Now, take a breath, and calm down, before I do it again."

'Motherfucker!'

"That title is accurate, as the person I have fucked is a mother now." Edward answered my silent insult in a teasing tone.

"Arsehole." I muttered to him as I rubbed my left cheek, since it was still sore.

The mind reader sighed and crossed his arms across his chest. "Do you want my help or not?" He asked smugly.

'...please'

"Out loud." He prodded, whilst smiling like a baboon.

It took a while for me to grumble out the words, but I eventually did it. "Please, will you help me find a way to ask Bree out on a date?"

Saying those words makes me feel like I am spitting up soap that was somehow shoved down my throat. Is it better to just get it out of my body, or just not taste it again? I can't believe I'm actually asking this piece of shit for help. Not like I have any other choice.

He smiled with a very smug look on his face, and said, "Good. Now, out of curiosity, why exactly am I the only one here to help you with this?"

"Seriously? You haven't figured that out?" I deadpanned.

"Enlighten me."

"Asking Alice would be the worst idea. She'd completely take over and start planning everything. Heck, she'd probably even start planning a hypothetical wedding between us! And I haven't even asked Bree out yet!"

Edward hummed in acknowledgement, then nodded. "Yeah, I can see that."

"Exactly." I huffed out exasperatedly.

"But what about Jasper? He is an empath. Can read feelings a lot better than most." He suggested.

"You're kidding right?" He's obviously not kidding. If his face is anything to go by. "I'll tell you why not. He wasn't the one to ask Alice out. Alice did all of that, and she did it in her own... quirky way."

Edward raised an eyebrow at me, so I continued.

In a high pitched voice, I tried to imitate Alice's voice.

"Hi! I'm Alice! You and me have a future together!

So let's get to it and hurry up!" I finished with my Alice impersonation, and switched to trying to imitate Jasper's southern accent. "Yes ma'am."

Then I finally returned to my normal voice. "You see?! Not exactly a normal dating scenario."

Edward just smirked at me, it was pretty clear that he was highly amused by my 'performance'.

"Okay. Point made." He conceded, chuckling slightly. "But what about Rosalie or Emmet?"

"Neither of those two really waited. They both jumped straight into it. So, we're not exactly in the same situation."

"That parts true. The fact we had to move them into another house so we didn't have to hear the constant sex, is attest to that."

"Eww! TMI Edward! TMI!" I shouted loudly, as disgust covered my face at the thought of my older brother having loud sex with Rosalie.

"Oh, just hearing about loud sex is enough to make you cringe? Imagine having a mind reading power! Where you can see and hear all of their current fantasies in real time!" He complained. Edward had clearly been waiting to say that for a while.

"Okay. Point made... But for the record, our gift is supposed to be an evolved attribute from when we were human.

So, you must've been a pretty nosey human.

" I uttered in response. Recognising the pain and mental torture he must have gone through during those first few years.

But I couldn't help but smirk a little when it came to the correlation between his human life and vampire life.

"I was not!" He immediately denied it. Go figure.

"We're getting off track." I reminded.

"... right." He replied, after taking a moment to compose himself to continued, "Okay, so Jasper and Alice are out. Plus Rosalie and Emmet. And I'm here right now. So that would leave, Carlisle and Esme. Have you asked them?"

A sigh escaped my body before I could stop myself. Edward raised an eyebrow at me in questioning, so I answered him. "No. I haven't asked them."

"Why not?" He questioned curiously.

"Because I already know what their response is gonna be. They'll just say to do what feels right. And, while yes, it's sweet, its ultimately not helpful." I said quietly, while looking at the ground.

After a moment, Edward continued speaking. It looked like he was trying to be less of a douchebag and actually going to help me now. "Alright, I get it. You wanna ask Bree out. Let's figure out what the best way is to do that." He smiled genuinely at me.

He was actually going to help. "Thank you." I said softly. He nodded in response.

After Pearl strategised with Edward for a while, they were finally able to build up a solid idea on how to go about asking Bree the big question.

The most important thing for Pearl to do, was to not blurt it out, without any warning.

Edward reinforced that with the hybrid, many times throughout their talk.

In her haste to find Bree once she was sure that she could do this, Pearl forgot to activate her gift once again, to keep their conversation private. This meant that every single vampire in the house could hear what the girl's were saying.

Pearl walked into Esme's art room to find Bree painting a small sunset on a canvas. Not wanting to distract her, Pearl sat on the floor next to the vampire, to watch her imprint paint silently.

Taking notice of Pearl's presence, Bree placed her paint brush down and turned to the hybrid.

"Hey Pearl. Something I can help you with?" Bree greeted her happily.

"You don't have to stop painting, I'll wait. Plus, it's nice to see you in your element." Pearl casually responded.

"It's fine. I'm almost done anyway." Bree replied. Then she smiled brightly after getting an idea. "Actually, could you help me with it?"

"Sure. What do you want me to do?" Pearl curiously asked.

"Add your fine art stuff." Bree bluntly replied.

"My fine art stuff?" Pearl asked in a questioning tone.

"Yep." She answered simply, with no explanation.

Pearl gave Bree a confused yet amused look, and indicated Bree to explain further.

"I mean draw over it. Add some stuff. I don't want it to just be a sunset, I want some details in it too." She briefly clarified.

Pearl smiled and grabbed a black marker from the drawer. "Okay. Any requests?" The hybrid asked.

Bree thought for a moment, then smirked. "A wolf." She replied confidently.

Pearl chuckled. "You got it."

Pearl drew over Bree's painting for the next 30 minutes, adding in details, and giving the sunset a new outline.

Periodically pausing to allow the paint to dry more.

Once Pearl was finished, Bree decided to isolate the main image more, by painting a contrasting colour on the background.

As the final touches to the picture was being made, Pearl took her chance.

"Go out with me." She blurted out suddenly. Completely forgetting everything that she and Edward had talked about an hour prior.

Somewhere within the house, Edward could be heard face palming himself.

Bree froze and turned to face her in disbelief.

Realising that she may have just screwed up.

Pearl started rambling in a panic. "I mean, I'm not ordering you or anything, this is a legitimate question.

I really like you, and I think I like you more than a friend, so I was hoping that I would be able to take you out on a date.

If you're cool with that, that is. I'd never force you, and I know we haven't discussed the whole imprint and mate thing for a while now, but I really would like to take the next step if that's something you are okay with.

If not then that's totally cool, there's no pressure or anything, if you don't like me back, then that's totally fine.

We can stay being friends, it's totally up to you-"

Coming out of her initial shock, Bree slapped her hand against Pearl's mouth, putting an end to the hybrid's relentless babbling.

The young vampire had the warmest smile on her face, as she stared directly at her mate. "I'd love to."

As soon as the words left Bree's mouth, Pearl lit up and brought her into a tight hug, while grinning like an idiot. Bree started giggling, and hugged her mate back just as tight.

Their moment however, was interrupted by an incredibly hyper pixie, who came barrelling through the art room's door at full speed, screaming about their future date and all of the things that they could do.

Bree and Pearl were so surprised by Alice's sudden appearance that neither of them made any move to stop or interrupt her. This allowed the pixie to get way ahead of herself, as by the time Jasper entered the room to pull Alice away, she had already began planning Bree and Pearl's future wedding.

Jasper picked up his mate and left the room. But not before congratulating his little sisters first.

The older two vampires left the girls in a very flustered state. Pearl was a blushing mess and had an error message bumping around in her brain. Whilst Bree was completely frozen in shock, and sat on the stool unmoving, paint brush fully discarded.

After Alice had interrupted the girls, the family made it a point to allow them some time to recover and rejoice. As going on their first date is a huge first step. But they also had an ulterior motive.

With the girls being left alone, it gave the family of vampires the perfect opportunity to sort out their betting pool.

Rosalie entered the living room and joined her family with a sly grin on her face, after checking on the younger girls. "Okay, Pearl and Renesmee are asleep, and Bree has just left to go hunting." She said.

"We have approximately 30 minutes before Bree returns, so we have to sort this out before Bree gets back." Alice announced.

"Understood. Emmet would you please go and get the jar titled 'Date', as well as collect the other one named 'Time 1'." Carlisle requested politely.

Emmet nodded and sped off to a corner in the house and opened a secret compartment.

Inside the little hidey-hole were four labelled jars.

Each of them had a ton of money smushed inside.

He grabbed the two that Carlisle had asked for, and sealed the compartment back up before returning to the living room.

Emmet placed the two jars on the table and Carlisle opened the jar titled 'Date'. The patriarch grabbed the piece of paper he had folded up months prior, and sealed to the inside of the lid. Unfolding the paper, it displayed a table:

Staring at the table that they had written months ago, just after Pearl and Bree had had the conversation to start out as friends, Edward suddenly cried out. "Are you kidding me?! I forgot I put my bet on Bree?!"

"Hah!" Emmet started laughing at the mind reader, after he saw that he himself had indeed been one of the winners. "Sucks to suck Eddie!"

"Now there is no need for that." Carlisle tried to scold Emmet, but he was also smiling victoriously, since it had been Pearl who had asked the question.

Rosalie scoffed and crossed her arms, while Jasper just looked defeated. Bella smiled sympathetically at the Texan, as Alice was rubbing her victory in her mates face.

Esme then calmly spoke up, forever being the voice of reason within the family. "We still have another jar to open." She reminded them all.

"That's right. But first, let's divide up the current winnings." Carlisle said somewhat smugly.

The contents of the 'Date' jar was divided up between: Alice, Bella, Emmet and Carlisle.

In total, each of the winners won 100 bucks, as every coven member had placed 50 bucks on the line.

It wasn't much money in the grand scheme of things, but winning also allowed them bragging rights, and that was the main prize they wanted.

The family then moved onto the second jar, titled 'Time 1'. Opening it up, Carlisle pulled out another piece of folded up paper that was attached to the inside of the lid.

For this jar, everyone had to note down a rough time span for when they thought the question of a date would be asked.

This jar was put together on the same day as all of the others. Just after Pearl and Bree had their first conversation about the mate bond and imprinting. And what that would all mean for them. And it has been a little over 5 months since that day.

Reading the piece of paper, the majority of the family let out a groan of defeat as they read the results.

When they had placed their answers on the paper, they made sure to do it before Alice could get a vision, as to avoid any potential cheating.

But it seemed that the family's efforts were in vain, as Alice had bet on the five month mark, and was one of the winners.

The other winner, was Rosalie, who had also put her name down for the five month mark.

With the two girls being the closest, they received the jar and divided the winnings between the two of them.

As they were doing so, Emmet started complaining, "Why do we even bet with Alice?! I bet she still used her future sight."

Alice rebutted his claim. "You know I can't see that far ahead!"

"Liar." Edward deadpanned. "You saw yourself meeting Jasper and becoming part of our family years in advance." He called her out.

Alice sent a mischievous smile Edward's way, which caused the mind reader to scowl at her.

The family then discussed the results of their first two bets for a while.

When Edward asked whether or not they could change what they put for the other two bets.

Esme responded with a firm no, which caused Edward to start pouting like a child.

Bella just smiled at her husband fondly, even though she was shaking her head at his question.

Overall, the family's betting ring had resulted in an extremely happy pixie, an amused barbie, a depressed Texan, a pouting mind reader, an indifferent new born, a whiny man child, a disappointed mother, and a pleased father.

So, it was definitely a success. Now they've just got to wait for the next big step in their youngest's relationship.

Seated on the couch in the households living room, was Charlie Swan. And across from him, in an arm chair, was Sue Clearwater.

Wasting no time, Sue told the chief of police exactly why she had called him here.

"I want to file a police report. My youngest daughter Pearl, has been kidnapped by the Cullen family, and is being held against her will. I want my daughter back." She stated firmly, with a dark look in her eyes.