LET DOWN

nine.           squirrels

▬ EMMETT CULLEN was sure of two things as he shoved food into a little lunchbox; one, Cori Swan was absolutely meant to be his and two, she liked food. He had seen how she basically scarfed down three sandwiches, almost an entire bag of chips and a cookie, or three, during their little study session the night before. So, he wanted to make sure she had food because if her disinterest in the cafeteria food was any indication, she wouldn't be eating much at school.

"What are you doing?" Esme asked, an amused smile pulling at her lips as she stood in the kitchen, watching the boy shove what he could into the lunchbox that sat on the counter. "That's going to the food bank."

"Um, well, I met her."

"Who?" She tilted her head a little, a motherly smile pulling at her lips and his smile grew.

"Cori. The girl Alice saw."

She couldn't help that her own smile grew, just seeing the sheer joy on his face was enough to have her completely in his corner, still she asked; "And you need all this food because?"

"She likes to eat." He shrugged. "And the food at school isn't really that good, well, it doesn't look that good. Yesterday, she ate a few grapes and a piece of bread. I just want to make sure she's eating enough."

"That's sweet of you." She hummed and he shrugged, if he could blush his cheeks would be a bright shade of red. "Well, take as much as you'd like. But, please, leave some for the food bank."

"Will do." He rounded the counter then leaned down and lightly kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Esme." She chuckled a little, watching as he made his way back towards the pantry where he grabbed a few more things, mostly little snack items, before closing it and shoving it all in the lunchbox. But when he tried to zip it up it wouldn't close all the way. "Gonna need a bigger lunchbox." He muttered, tugging on the zipper again, this time it broke and he sighed. "Yeah, definitely gonna need another one."

Esme chuckled, walking out of the kitchen. She had never seen him so happy. Sure, she had seen him smile and he never seemed like he wasn't anything but content, but seeing that smile and how giddy he got just from filling up a bag with food, she knew that, now, he was undeniably happy. And that was all she wanted for her kids.

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▬ "SEE? I'M A GOOD DRIVER." Cori stated as she put the truck in park, they were next to a blue van and the group of people Bella had met the day before milled around it, all laughing as they enjoyed the last few minutes before school actually started.

"I never said you weren't a good driver."

"You implied it." Cori hummed before opening the door and sliding out, her boots hitting the cold pavement. She pushed the door closed, having to use more force than should be necessary, before she rounded the truck, holding the keys out towards her sister. "We made it in one piece, and you even got coffee out of it. Stop sulking."

"I'm not sulking, twerp." She huffed, taking her keys. "I'm slightly annoyed that you woke me up just to beg to drive today, but I'm not sulking."

"Okay." Cori just gave her a closed mouth smile to which Bella rolled her eyes, but before either could say anything else a boy approached them.

"Hey, I'm Mike." He held his hand out towards the shorter girl as another guy followed, smiling at the blue-eyed girl.

"Hi?" She seemed confused but reluctantly shook his hand, which just felt awkward. She pulled her hand back and looked up at Bella.

"I nailed him in the head with a volleyball yesterday. And that's Tyler." Bella told her, moving to her sister's side, her hand held out to her and Cori wrapped her fingers around Bella's palm. "Um, Mike, Tyler, this is Cori. My little sister."

"You're eleven months older than me." Cori mumbled.

"Still my little sister."

"Yes, but saying this is my little sister makes me sound like I'm a five-year-old or something." Cori argued, then something caught her attention and she turned her head a little to see Travis waving at her, his smile wide. Her own smile grew and she let out a small chuckle when Emmett smacked the back of his brother's head. And it looked as though he was gonna retaliate but Rosalie stepped between the two, pushing her boyfriend back. "See ya in gym." She mumbled, dropping her sister's hand and glancing both ways before she crossed the parking lot towards the Cullens. Not caring that Mike was in the middle of saying something.

"Hey, it's Cori!" Travis grinned, his glare from moments ago gone as he made his way towards the girl, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side. Emmett narrowed his eyes a little, but Travis just smirked. "So, how was your study date last night?" He looked from his brother to the girl under his arm.

"It wasn't-"

"It was okay." Cori spoke, cutting Emmett off and he smiled. She didn't try and correct the boy for calling it a date and that, as small as it may have been, would've made his heart squeeze a little in the best way if it still beat. "Still think algebra is stupid though." She added. "And I want a straight answer, when the hell did you put your number in my phone?"

"Oh, that." He chuckled, letting his arm fall back to his side. "You dropped it when we left history and it started as a joke, but Rose told me no and I-"

"He's a child." Rosalie cut him off. "You tell him no and he just has to do it."

"Yeah, pretty much." He agreed. "But she loves me." He pulled the blonde into his arms and pressed a kiss to her lips. Cori smiled at the two, she had seen a few high school relationships but never one as real as theirs seemed to be.

"You guys are cute." She mused.

"She thinks we're cute." Travis grinned, looking down at his wife and she rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the chuckle that left her lips.

Emmett made his way towards the girl, stopping next to her. "I hope it was okay that I carried you up to your room."

"You did?" She looked up at him, her brows pinched.

"Yeah. You fell asleep when you said you needed a break before your brain exploded." He chuckled. "I knew you'd be out the second you laid on the couch."

"Oh." She ducked her head a little, she felt bad. He had dropped his plans just to help her with her homework and she fell asleep. And that meant that after he had carried her to her room, he had cleaned up her books and even the snacks she had put out for him. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't be." He nudged her a little bit.

"You didn't have to carry me to my room, or clean up my mess."

"I know." He nodded. "But I did. It's done now, nothing you can do about it." He shrugged.

"Thanks." She hummed, nudging his much bigger arm with hers and that alone brought a huge smile to his face.

Alice smiled as she watched them, her arms around Jasper as they stood near the front of Emmett's jeep. She was excited that Cori seemed comfortable with them, but she wanted to make sure. So when Cori walked over she asked Jasper to read her emotions and it was easier for him to have at least a little distance between them.

"So?" She looked up at the blond, her smile almost permanent.

"She's content." He told her, his voice low but the other three were listening, they all wanted to know. "She does get a little flustered when Emmett is close to her, though." But he didn't need to be an empath to figure that out.

"Good." Alice hummed, choosing then to make her way towards the four, who were laughing as Cori recapped how her ride to school went - she may have exaggerated how Bella reacted to a turn she had taken a little too fast. Well, the two boys were laughing and Rosalie was watching the girl, she wore a smile but she was still cautious. "Shall we head inside?" She asked, tugging Jasper with her.

"Yeah, I'm cold." Cori mumbled, making Emmett chuckle a little as they started towards the steps. They passed a few people, who still seemed obsessed with the fact that the Cullens had taken the new girl into their group. Cori reached out, her pinky wrapping around Emmett's, which drew his attention to her. "Sorry, reflex."

"No." He stopped her from pulling her hand back. "I don't mind. Really. Whenever you need a hand to hold, you can hold mine."

"Okay." She hummed, fighting off a blush but it was a losing battle. Her cheeks flushed and even the tips of her ears had turned red. And all he could do was smile at the girl as she adjusted her pinky around his.

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▬ TWO WEEKS HAD COME and gone. Cori, though she hated school, was glad to finally be caught up. And the only reason she had gotten to such a point was because Emmett had collected all of his siblings notes for various subjects and spent hours every day going over everything with her.

They had little study sessions at lunch, moving to a table just to the left of the table his siblings occupied. They spent time before school going over history and english. After school, they sat in the parking lot working on algebra until Paul came to pick her up or Bella was ready to leave. They even talked on the phone, him helping her with her homework as best as he could. Needless to say, Emmett had spent almost all of his free time with Cori. And though he would have preferred it be because of anything other than school, he didn't complain.

He just wanted to spend time with her. And by a shocking turn of events, for her at least, she wanted to spend time with him.

Cori hummed as she followed Bella out of the house, pulling the door closed behind her before she tugged her beanie down a little to better cover her ears. She smiled when she saw her dad pull up in Bella's truck but before she could greet him, Bella slid and Cori tried to catch her.

Both girls ended up on the cold, icy pavement.

"You all right?" Charlie asked, helping the two girls up.

"Yeah, I'm good." Bella nodded.

"I'm not." Cori mumbled, rubbing her wrist a little. "I think you broke it."

"It's not broken." Charlie held his hand out and she held it out to him, he gently felt the bone. "Probably just gonna be sore for a day or two."

"Thank you, doctor dad." She hummed and he chuckled a little.

"Sorry, Cor. Ice doesn't really help the uncoordinated."

"At least you know." The blue-eyed girl mumbled, still rubbing her wrist.

"Yeah." Charlie nodded as the two girls started towards the truck. "That's why I had some new tires put on the truck. Old ones were gettin' pretty bald." He lightly kicked the tire with his boot.

"Thanks." Bella hummed.

"Can I stay home? My wrist hurts."

"No." Charlie shook his head. "Nice try though." The girl shrugged a little as she rounded the truck and opened the door. "Well, probably gonna be late for dinner. I gotta head down to Mason County. Security guard at Grisham Mill got killed by an animal." He told the two as he started towards his police cruiser as Bella opened her door.

"An animal?" Bella questioned.

"You're not in Phoenix anymore, girls. Anyway, I figured I'd lend a hand."

"Be careful." Cori leaned out the driver's side door, she was already in the truck.

"Always am." He nodded then he slid into his car and Bella lifted herself into the truck.

"What kind of animal do you think it was?"

"I'm gonna go with squirrels."

"Just because you were attacked by a squirrel when you were nine doesn't mean all squirrels are evil." Bella sighed.

"I think it does." She mumbled childishly, turning away from her sister as she started the truck. And all Bella could do was shake her head as she pulled out of the driveway.