PIECES OF ME ARE LITTERED IN EVERY PART OF THE HOUSE. I can't find my Christmas shoes, nor does that quite matter, but I know the egregious amount of money Alice and Rosalie spent on them. I'm apprehensive when it comes to not searching for them. What kind of person spends $400 on a pair of shoes for their mate?

Someone with that kind of money, I suppose...

When it comes to the other things that find their way into the house crevices that are mine, I find that the extra socks, which are always single and lonely as well as covered in dust, are my favorite. Esme doesn't scold me for it, but I see her walking around with the laundry hamper at least every other day searching for my lost socks.

This President's week I wasn't in a hospital, but with the Cullens, which was great compared to the IV drips and nearly fatal minor illnesses. I miss my mom, though. She hasn't been messaging me as of late, and we haven't really called much other than a few short calls every other weekend.

Since I'm joining my mates for the holidays and I feel truly a part of the household, it was only normal that the Cullens were briefing me on everyone that they'd become friends with over the decades or even centuries that they'd been alive.

"The Denali's are the Coven that we're closest with," Esme reminds me when I ask yet again who they are. "Carlisle has known them for so long and one of their members were friends with him when he was a part of the Volturi. Tanya and Kate used to come over often, but they can't be with us in Forks."

"The Wolves barely let us stay here these days," Emmett groans as he wraps his arms around Rosalie. "The ones Carlisle knows are newer to their coven. Left the Volturi."

Alice runs into the room and squeaks out, "They weren't a part of the bond, so they left after over six hundred years."

I couldn't fathom leaving a place that I'd called home for so long, but without love, I can see finding a new place to live. If nobody is on the same page, it's the same way. From the way Carlisle described it, that was why he left the Volturi after a decade.

What Emmett said about the wolves was still more intriguing than the Volturi, though, and would be more of an issue since they didn't like my mates.

One of them was supposed to be my mate, too.

"Why of the wolves hate you being here more than the average town person? They're Indigenous, right, so you're just as much of an invader as everyone else." I asked.

"Sure, that's true, but vampires have caused more damage to this land historically, to their populations," Esme explained. "That part of vampire history wasn't our fault, but humans hunting their people is a good reason as to why they don't want us here."

"So, why do we still live here then?"

Wouldn't it be easier to move away to a place just as remote and dense that didn't have a population of people vampires have a bad history with? It would be so easy to move, wouldn't it? Carlisle could get a job just about anywhere. Doctors are always needed, especially emergency room ones. He's the perfect candidate for being an ER doc in a large, small, or medium sized city.

"Carlisle says he prefers it here to try and do good for the town, who at this very moment only has him as their doctor, and also as a place where the climate is perfect for vampires. The Volturi would be okay coming here for meetings if it weren't for the Shifters. Carlisle originally wanted it to be neutral ground, but that's been tough these days," said Esme.

The Shifters were unknown to most of the Vampire world, or so they said. Children of the Moon sound terrifying, and that's what they would be painted as, even if they aren't the same species.

"Couldn't he have found a new neutral ground?"

"People starting to move to these areas in the early twentieth century made that idea nearly impossible. An all vampire safe space in the age of technology? Not happening, but don't tell him I told you that. He's too optimistic to give up."

I nodded, knowing that to be true. He was the one who wanted to try this new trial of drugs on me, bringing me into his home to do so. He has a hell of a lot more hope than anyone on either side of my family. Than me. This will prolong my life, I'm sure of that, but cure what's wrong with me? No. It's sent me to school, but I'll never feel safe getting a paper cut.

Last time I got a scratch I nearly died from an infection.

This time I may be out of the hospital in a month or two rather than six. What more can I ask for, though? My standards are in Hell.

"Building relations with them seem to have failed. That Jacob Black hates that I'm your shared mate and I doubt he would want to move to be with me."

They never disputed that claim. Sometimes things can't be fixed. Some things aren't worth trying.

Optimism can kill your dreams. It can get you killed, too.

---

AFTER PRESIDENT'S WEEK I WONDERED EXACTLY WHAT I WAS GOLING TO DO ABOUT EDWARD AND BELLA. My mate was clearly attracted to her, wanting to watch her whenever he could, but the smell of her blood sent him through hoops of denial and despite to stay away. This couldn't keep going on, lest something bad happen and we lose a core part of our lives.

Things were tricky to work around, though, mainly because of Bella's new friends, who I didn't know much about. The group would tell her all about the rumors around my mates, about our whole family. A few rumors had even been heard about me, about how I was allegedly too close to Jasper.

Fair. Totally fair. By human standards I would probably be called a cheating whore. I'm not, but how could anyone know that?

All ways of getting closer to Bella have failed because of those friends of hers. Every day since I've tried to catch her alone, hang around town places where her friends had been dragging her around to. All plans failed. She would look at me with a slightly jealous look her in her eyes and then move right along.

Why did this have to be so freaking hard?

"You could try and text her?" Rose commented, "She may just yet pick up the phone."

She was being sarcastic, like usual. Still didn't make it a bad plan.

"Where would I get her number?" I asked, earring a few laughs from Jasper. "I'm serious, you guys. We have to talk to her and indoctrinate her into a part of our circle before we share the big news! She's not as easygoing as I am."

"How could you know that?"

"Rosie, she's spent the last few bio classes staring at Edward and I as we hold hands under the desk. Nobody does that unless-"

"I wouldn't make those assumptions. She could just be really nosy."

"Bella is not the type to be nosy. I've been to countless different schools and I know nosy. My mom is nosy. Bella is not nosy." I doubted their belief in me as I chugged the smoothie I'd been given for lunch.

My problems with that group were going to grow, I just knew it. I knew they were decent people, and that I should be happy that my mate had friends, but I really didn't. I was jealous myself that I wasn't a part of that group, getting to talk to Bella myself and now had to figure out her number by asking a group member.

Or, better yet, I could force her to be in my group for the next lab report. I knew Jessica wasn't here today, which means that her usual partner isn't here. More likely than not, Edward would get away with skipping, leaving the two of us together as partners.

I could get her number that way.

"Edward, you're going to skip bio," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"So our teacher will force Bella to be my lab partner for the next lab. Jessica isn't here. I'll get her number and invite her over to work on our homework," I explained. "If I'm going to fix this issue, I'm going to do it slowly and in a way that doesn't implode on us and force us to move. Jasper, if Edward isn't there, can you handle her in the house?"

"I mean... yeah?"

Edward rolled his eyes at his brother. "That didn't sound very sure at all."

"Well, it's not like we've tried having her over before. Humans other than Fennie aren't usually at our house," Jasper pointed out as he wrapped an arm around Alice, who was playing a game on her phone. "I think it's worth a shot. Worse comes to worse I jump out the window and run into the woods."

"I'll come with you," Alice said, furiously mashing buttons on her phone. "We can go to the flowers."

This plan was my best yet, and if everyone was on board, and if nobody was enticed to attack and suck the life out of Bella, we could even have a new member of the Coven in a year or so. At least one member out of the two non-coven members that I'm supposed to be with. That's much better than my chances at reaching twenty-one, which are literally 17.98% as of this Tuesday! Better than the survival rates I had last year.

"Are you sure that doing this will have the result that you want, Fennie?" Edward asked. "She may think you're being pushy. As you've said, she's not as easygoing as you."

"Edward, she doesn't know I'm her mate. She's probably looking at us during bio going 'oh he's dating her why am I looking at them. I'm also looking at her she's so pretty' blah blah blah. We all have that phase where we look at a couple and go, oh shit they're BOTH hot," I tried to explain.

"Not all of us," Emmett said.

"Well all of me," Rosie retorted. "You think you're jealous because she's with him, or jealous because she's so pretty and he loves her because she's prettier. Then you realize you wish you were her, then you start wishing you were a guy. Then you want to be with her. Then you're stealing playboy magazines at seventeen questioning why the girls make you so... crazy."

I've never had an original experience in my life.

---

I HAD TO INVITE BELLA OVER TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT. 

Our bonds were only as strong as the people in the relationships. Our family was going to be a normal Coven of vampires once Bella and I are turned. We'll abandon ship and pray for the best, go off and live somewhere for five to ten more years, and do it all over again. We'll explore the world and make the most of immortality with one another, knowing that we always had each other's backs. 

Carlisle and Esme promised me that. And they also promised that the fates wouldn't have given me the desire to be with all of them through the bond if I wasn't capable of handling whatever came up in the Coven. This was just my first assignment out of many. I had to start seeing it that way. 

It was nearing the end of the day by this point, and with my mates on board with the idea, Edward left right after lunch, leaving me sitting next to Bella.

"Did you get enough sleep, Bella?" I asked sweetly, ignoring the nerves building up in my gut as I pulled out my reading material.

She sputtered a bit, mumbling out, "...uh...no, not really, I guess."

So, as I could tell in that moment, it was going to be a lot harder than originally imagined. Bella wasn't that much of a talker, she didn't like getting in trouble. She wasn't a drama seeker, but drama would come to her with our bond.

Thankfully this wouldn't be an issue for much longer. Mates are forever, school is not.

"Well, that isn't too great," I said as I smiled with my book in my hand, "I was hoping that you'd consider sitting with me and my friends at lunch. I'm new to the school this year as well, and they've been really open and friendly."

She perked up at this. "Really? You actually want me to sit with you?"

"Of course! You can always sit with us. Though, I think Jasper is going to be playing baseball at lunch, and Alice always watches him play. So it will just be you, me, Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett. We sometimes go out, but I think Carlisle is bringing us food," I explained. "It would be better for you to come over to our house if we are going to be working together, though, mainly because it's so loud in there."

Inviting Bella into our circle was the most important part of fixing things. Edward wouldn't be able to learn to control himself around her otherwise. Bella had to get to know everyone in the Coven as well, or else telling her would be shocking and worrisome. 

Then again, I was told and didn't care. Maybe I'm too laid back. Or perhaps I know that if I don't become a vampire I'll die. I'll die and there's nothing that anyone else but a vampire could do to stop that.

"Um, well, that sounds cool. I haven't really been to anyone's house yet." I could tell she was happy to hear it, despite her slightly cold demeanor. "Where are you sitting at lunch?"

"At the back table, like usual. Away from the stairs. It's next to a poster about the upcoming play. Alice put it there."

Alice was obsessed with musicals, truly. I didn't want to be in the play and she almost convinced me to work backstage. Jasper wasn't too into it either, knowing that the most toxic environment in the world was in a high school theatre department. How Alice manages that, I will never know.

"Oh, a play. Cool." Bella tugged at her jeans and looked away from me back to the front of the classroom. She wasn't smiling when she asked, "Is Edward your boyfriend? You're around him a lot."

Damn, this is not the conversation topic I was hoping for. We could talk about anything other than this and I'd think it was going well. 

Now wasn't the time to explain that we were open. No, not open. Yeah, open to her. Very much open to her. 

"It's complicated."

That would have to do.

---

HEY EVERYONE THIS IS THE CORRECT VERSION OF THE CHAPTER, WATTPAD MESSED UP THE VERSIONS ON MONDAY.