ָ  ▋٬ 𝗛𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗜𝗔. 🩸

𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿. 🦇 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝.

⸝⸝ ʚ 🦷! ⌗ °•. 𝑻𝑶𝑫𝑨𝒀 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑫𝑨𝒀.

It was a day that she had waited exactly 365 days for.

Cecilia Chapel warmed in her morning bath, scrubbing her skin raw, until some splotches of pink began to show through in the more delicate areas of her body near the prominent veins by her arms. Although she should be used to it as it had been ten years, she felt it every year. She felt their blood on her skin even after all these years.

Before she could draw her own blood, she threw the lavender loofa into the bubbled water, resting her head against the tub while she splayed her arms on the side, allowing her body to cool from the burning sensation. The girls eyes were sunken in, more than usual, and they were stained red from the tears she had shed into her pillow from the disturbing night. Memories of the blood, the bodies, the yellow tape, and the sirens. As she bathed in the warm water that was growing colder, she brought herself back to that night where she was soaked in the blood of her parents, cold and thick on the wooden floor. She still remembered almost everything from that night.

"Okay, that's enough..." Cecilia mumbled to herself, stepping out to stare at her nude body in the mirror. She had looked better — that she was certain of. She glanced at her bare hands, covered in the blood that haunted her from ten years ago. The tap was running water in a matter of seconds as she scrubbed and scrubbed, panicking more and more until there was nothing left. Because there was nothing there to begin with.

      Sighing, she dried off and wrapped the towel around her body to remain decent enough when she was welcomed to the sight on Vivienne sitting on her bed sheets, already fully dressed with her hair done.

"Hey, Love Bug..." Vivienne sprung from the bed, and hugged the small girl, tight. She didn't care that her clothes were slightly wet from the damp towel.

"You scared me..." Cecilia embraced the hug, "Tommy let you in?"

Pulling away, the red head nodded, peeling off her denim jacket and tossing it onto the bed. "He called me and wanted to be with you this morning since he couldn't be. Now, enough sad stuff! It's dress up time!"

     Cecilia sat in the stool facing her vanity, forcing herself to look in the mirror whilst Vivienne runraveled her hair from the bun she had put it in to keep it dry from the water. Gently, she brushed the hair that reached Cecilia's mid torso, making sure not to yank too hard where she would cause the other girl a headache. Closing her eyes, the dark haired girl could feel the tears beggining to form, remembering the feeling of her mother brushing her hair.

     "Would you like it up?" Vivienne twisted the hair into a messy style before letting it drape over Cecilia's shoulders, "or down?"

     "How about both?" The girl answered, pulling stands from the middle section of her hair, leaving the front free as she messily braided the strands she had pulled back to give Vivienne some sort of idea.

     Vivienne ran her fingers through the girls hair, "I think I can do that."

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🦇

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⸝⸝ ʚ 🦷! ⌗ °•.     𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑮𝑰𝑹𝑳𝑺 𝑺𝑨𝑻 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑼𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑪𝑨𝑹. Vivienne's hand rested on Cecilia's bare, bandaged knee, whilst the overly anxious girl looked around at everybody. There were a few glances here and there from the students on the other world that was outside of the vehicle, a world that Cecilia did not want to venture in to.

"You'll be fine, Cecilia," Vivienne followed the girls gaze, "most people aren't looking."

She shook her head, "no, no. They definitely are. Mike's been staring since the moment we got here," Cecilia rapidly faced Vivienne, grabbing the red heads hand off her knee and holding it tightly, "please, I cannot talk to him today."

"I tried to tell you he's a weirdo..." Vivienne rolled her eyes.

Cecilia lowered her head, "Viv..."

"Alright! Bodyguard Viv is on the scene..." Vivienne looked around the carpark, "okay, you're right. Everyone is staring. Maybe we should have booked it for the library instead of sitting here like animals in a zoo. But hey, the Cullen's are the only ones not staring."

Looking out toward the cars in the corner closest to the school, Cecilia could only see the silver Volvo and the red convertible -- no sign of the Jeep. And Vivienne was right. They were keeping to themselves, not looking at whatever everyone else was staring at. That made her feel slightly better. Perhaps they weren't as easily influenced as the rest of Forks.

      Vivienne left from the drivers side, walking around the front of the car until she knocked on Cecilia's side, attempting the handle but having no success as the girl on the other side had locked it to ease her thoughts. Vivienne pointed down at the lock, mouthing the words "now" and Cecilia sighed before completing the demand.

      The passenger door swung open and Vivienne offered her hand, "come on. We will not sit in this car until we rot. Take my hand, Love Bug."

      Cecilia took one last glance at the students around who were looking at them. Maybe it was the dramatic sight, or perhaps it was everything that she was worried about in her head. Or maybe it was just all of the above. She adjusted the lilac knitted dress that Vivienne had forced her to wear until it met her knee high white socks. One hand gripped her mother's rosary that she had chosen as her own finishing touch, while the other fell into Vivienne's.

      The red head wasted no time in slamming the car door, locking the busted up vehicle, before storming through the waves of students as the bell went. Everyone looked over at the girl in lilac, unsure of the change since she typically wore white or blue. Cecilia's eyes remained trained on the carparks asphalt, following behind Vivienne.

      Something urged her to look to her right as they passed, and when she lifted her head, it was Edward Cullen that had been urging her.

      His eyes were different today. Brighter and more golden. A contrast from the black that had been off-putting.

      He was the only person other than Vivienne that she had looked in the eyes that morning.

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🦇

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⸝⸝ ʚ 🦷! ⌗ °•.     𝑪𝑬𝑪𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑨 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑮𝑳𝑨𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑫 𝑫𝑬𝑪𝑰𝑫𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑷𝑰𝑪𝑲 𝑼𝑷 𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑺 𝑨𝑮𝑨𝑰𝑵. Of course, she dreaded the thought of the theory work that would have to be done. She wished that she could draw without having to analyse, but she supposed that was part of the art. To understand at a deeper depth than someone with a basic understanding.

She sat far away from the others in the art room. The desks were quite close together, attempting to show unity within the class, but she chose to ignore that. A few of the kids stared at her, most kept to themselves and chose not to engage with what most of the students had been doing in the car park. Whilst waiting for the teacher to arrive, she simply drew on the back of one of her books. It was nothing special, just a simple flower that she had seen a around the headstones at the cemetery.

For a few minutes she was left to her peace, most of the other kids avoiding sitting beside her. But an overly bubbly and welcoming personality came to sit beside her. There must of been something about her that invited the Cullen's to disturb her presence, or perhaps she was cursed. Alice, right? That was her name? Cecilia could hardly remember after the terrible encounter with Edward from the previous day. Now she remembered how Vivienne described them. The short one with the brown hair was Alice. The Cullen took a seat beside her, out of all the empty chairs around them.

Cecilia had heard whispers about the shorter Cullen being weird, but the way that the girl stared at her made her feel slightly uncomfortable. Was she just like everyone else? A person who fed into the whispers and wanted to know more? But when the girl opened her mouth, it felt like a breath of fresh air... somewhat?

"You smell incredible..." The girl with the pixie cut announced, gaining a few head turns from the other students. She stared at Cecilia's bare wrist, moving up to her lips before moving back to the girls eyes. "How rude... I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Alice!"

Cecilia stayed staring at the overly joyous girl. Her eyes were so similar to Edward's when she had passed him just before. Bright and golden. However, hers were far more inviting.

"Sorry, I can be a little overwhelming upon first meetings," Alice smiled, "but, don't worry. I don't bite."

"That's okay. I'm... sorry for not responding," Cecilia rubbed her arm as she always did in awkward situations, "I'm Cecilia... And it's Dolce Vita."

"Hmm?" Alice's head turned to the side, unsure of what the girl had said.

Looking around, Cecilia smiled and bit her lip, her answer coming out as more of a question, "my perfume? It's Dolce Vita? It was my mother's favourite."

Alice covered her mouth whilst she laughed, "Oh right! I was talking about your perfume, of course! Silly me! Well it's lovely to meet you Cecilia. I hope we can be great friends."

Cecilia took note of how the girls fists were clenched slightly, her right more than her left. "You know, I've met two Cullen's and I think you're the nicest one so far," Cecilia admitted truthfully. She felt bad as she stared into the pale girls golden eyes, accusing one of her siblings of being rude.

"Oh?" One of Alice's eyebrows rose, "Was it Edward? He's just reserved, that's all! We all are..."

Now, Cecilia felt a little harsh for judging them all based on one interaction she had. "Right. Right. I'm sorry..."

"No need to apologise, Lia! As I said, I'm sure we will be great friends." Alice took the girls hands in her own. Lia was a new nickname. And it sounded awfully pleasant coming from the Cullen. Despite the new nickname, Cecilia could not dismiss how cold Alice's hands were. Abnormally cold.

"Well, I think as your new friend... I should probably force you to move closer to the heater. You're freezing..."

Alice's eyes slightly changed as she retracted her hands, "oh, of course! But I should be alright! It's just the blood flow, so I should warm up soon."

Cecilia nodded, smiling slightly. Alice was kind. Kinder than most of the people in the town. And she was probably the only person, other than Vivienne and, unfortunately, Mike, that had ever spoken to her about something nice. Or even spoke to her at all. And so far, she hadn't heard a single snarky comment about the tragedy.

Maybe this year would be her year. And her first peaceful anniversary of her parent's death.

⸝⸝ ʚ 🦇 ! ⌗ °• ━━━ '' - «🕸»‧₊˚𓍯 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚
╰┈➤ firstly, thank you for 2k reads !! i'm so appreciative!! ty ty ty 🫶🏻 and second, sorry this chapter took a while. i've been planning the next four chapters including this one for the past few weeks so that's why i've been a little absent!! but i promise, chapter six and seven will be the best!! so pls keep seated for the upcoming chapters! i hope u enjoyed <3

small reminder for people who haven't read it in the intro chapter; THE CULLENS DRINK HUMAN BLOOD!!! i want this to be known. typically the cullens are decent with human blood so it's a lot easier for them to control themselves, but since Cecilia has a rare blood type, she is a lot harder to resist.

▋٬ gorgeous manip by tiishas