Apparently, Maya's wish that Edward and Bella would have the common sense to not agitate the rest of the family went unheard, as the very next day the two decided to announce their relationship publicly.
The rest of the family was gathered in the parking lot, wondering where Edward was as he had left earlier than them this morning, when his car pulled up. Unlike usual, he did not park next to them, but a few spaces down. They watched in confusion that quickly turned into anger, as he went around to the passenger side to help Bella out of his car.
They all watched as the pair entered the school, Edward walking with the typical grace of a vampire while Bella stumbled along trying to keep up with him.
"I'm going to kill him. Bad enough he is letting a human know of our existence, but now he is flaunting it for everyone to see?! Is he trying to draw attention to us and get us killed?!" Rosalie fumed.
Jasper just sighed, overwhelmed by all the emotions of his siblings and mate. "Lets just try and ignore them today. Give them a little space as we ... adjust to the situation" he reasoned. In all honesty he wanted to strangle Edward himself. Making such a public display, meant that if the Volturi ever found out, there would be absolutely no chance of any of them escaping punishment.
Nodding in agreement, the group silently headed into the school, splitting off to head to their various classes. When lunch came around, although no one said anything aloud, Maya was pretty sure that they were all glad that Edward chose to sit somewhere else with Bella instead of bringing her to their table. Even Alice for all that she was friendly and excited about the idea of having a new sister had some reservations given that Bella was not her brother's mate.
Biology that day was by far the worst class, as Maya and Jasper were forced to watch Edward and Bella spend the whole class with their heads together chatting quietly from their spot behind them. Thanks to their enhanced hearing they could hear everything the two were saying and it just made them cringe. Both Edward and Bella were very awkward in social situations, which made for one of the most cringe worthy attempts at flirting either of them had ever heard. Honestly at one point Maya had contemplated telling her family about Bella's knowledge herself if only to be spared the horrible torture that was sitting behind the couple. When the bell rang, Maya and Jasper were the first out of the class, desperate to get away from the pair and their awful attempts to flirt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of the week continued on in a similar fashion, with Edward ignoring his siblings completely for Bella. None of them were very happy about this, but slowly began to get used to it. Everything appeared to be slowly settling down. Until Edward announced his intent to bring her over the next day, reigniting the tension.
Carlisle and Esme attempted to be supportive and welcoming, Esme truly wishing to meet the girl that had captured her son's interest so fully.
Rosalie was once again furious now that Edward was bringing her to their home, while Emmet was more ambivalent. Yes, he thought it strange that Edward would want to be with a girl not his mate, but he had always been easy going and quick to forgive, so he was not as angry about it.
Alice was choosing to be excited to have another girl around, especially since she had seen visions of her, her sisters, and Bella hanging out together, she was convinced that they were going to be friends.
Jasper was frustrated with Edward's lack of care for his family and angry that there would be a human in the space that was supposed to be their escape from the world.
Maya meanwhile was confused. Bella was her sister, but that was in name only. Yet she still felt that she should be supportive of her. Only, she wasn't. Which left her feeling guilty that she was more concerned with how Jasper would handle having Bella's strong scent in their house.
She was also still coming to terms with the fact that she had so easily accepted the fact that if Bella found out she would have to be killed. At the time it had seemed like the only answer as it was the law, but now that it seemed like that wouldn't happen, she was feeling like a horrible person. She hadn't even attempted to save Bella, save redirecting her away from the truth. And even then she had to admit that she mainly did it for the Cullens sake.
Overall, she was very disappointed in herself and silently swore to herself to do better, to make it up to Bella and watch out for her as Renee had told her to all those years ago.
Needless to say by the time the weekend arrived the house was packed full of tension as everyone either walked on eggshells or snipped at the others. Nevertheless, despite their own personal feelings they all got to work preparing to welcome the human into their home. Alice took Jasper hunting, as he would need to be well fed in order to handle being in the same room as six other vampires and a human. Especially since the human was Edward's bloodsinger. While they did that, the remaining family members got to work preparing food for the human and Maya. Carlisle and Esme cooked the sauce and pasta, while Emmet and Rosalie worked on a salad.
Maya herself was up in Jasper's room, finishing her homework and muttering angrily to herself about how unfair it was that the others all knew this already and could use their super speed to be done a week's worth of homework in twenty minutes. She had attempted to put it off and help with the food but both Carlisle and Esme had pulled their parent faces and told her that she had to finish her school work first.
"Is she even Italian?" Rosalie asked irritably, talking over the cooking show Esme had put on.
"Her name is Bella" Emmet reasoned, making them smile at his simple logic.
"I'm sure she'll love it no matter what" Carlisle said trying to keep the peace.
"Whoa get a whiff of that" Rosalie commented sarcastically, "here comes the human" she sang. Esme grinned excited to be meeting the girl for the first time.
"Bella, were making Italian for you" she greeted with a huge smile on her face as the two entered the room.
"Oh, um" Bella stuttered.
"Bella, this is Esme. My mother for all intents and purposes" Edward introduced. Emmet waved his hand in greeting, the one holding the knife, causing Rosalie to reach out and take it from him. He gave her a small pout at that, which she only raised an eyebrow at.
"Buongiorno?" Bella stuttered out, unsure if that was right or not.
"Molto Bene" Esme replied with a comforting and welcoming smile.
Carlisle stepped forward to greet her as well, saying, "you've finally given us an excuse to use the kitchen for someone besides Maya."
"I hope your hungry" Esme added on, excited for someone else to try her cooking.
"Yeah absolutely" Bella rushed to get out, just as Edward told them "she already ate."
Rose angrily broke the salad bowl she was holding at this with a sarcastic "perfect".
There was a moment of tense silence that was broken by the sound of yowl and they all turned to watch as a small black kitten came bounding into the kitchen.
Maya, finally done with her homework, bounded up onto one of the kitchen stools, using it to get close enough to make it on top of the island. Not slowing down, she ran to the edge of it before jumping from the island to the counter where the stove was. She went so fast that when she landed, she slid into the wall, ending up in a tangled pile of limbs. She was quick to recover though and popped up before anyone could reach her, balancing on her back feet and letting out a little mewl as she begged to be fed.
The Cullens all smiled at her antics, Emmet laughing outright as he moved to pick up some of the sausage from the pan and feed it to her. Her front paws came up to hold his hand in place as she ate, letting out a yowl for more when she was done.
"Well at least we know someone loves your cooking! Eh Esme?" Emmet teased, holding a new piece just out of Maya's reach, causing her to bat and jump at it.
Bella struggled to explain herself to Esme who looked upset, tripping over her words "it's only ... it's only because I know you don't eat. So..."
"Of course, its very considerate of you" said Esme, ever the gracious host, hiding her disappointment. Carlisle moved to her side to offer her comfort as Edward made the situation worse.
"Just ignore Rosalie, I do."
"Yeah, lets just keep pretending this isn't dangerous for all of us" Rosalie spat, thoroughly done with Edward.
"I would never tell anybody" Bella was quick to say, with Carlisle reassuring her that they knew that and believed her.
It was then that Emmet, still at the stove feeding Maya, spoke up in defence of his wife. "Yeah well, the problem is you two have gone public now so ..."
"Emmet" Esme scolded, cutting him off.
"But Jasper and Maya have gone public, and she's not a vampire?" Bella questioned, upset that Maya was getting better treatment than she was. She was obviously better than her, and yet the Cullens all seemed to like Maya more, which pissed her off to no end.
"That's because Maya is Jasper's mate" Emmet said, upset that someone was questioning his soon to be sister. "Her and Jasper's situation is completely different, they're not breaking any laws" he stated firmly. He gave Maya another piece of meat and a pat on the head, silently reassuring her that he had her back. Even if she appeared to be too busy eating to even bother paying attention to Bella's comments.
"Emmet" Esme said again, sharper this time.
"No, she should know. The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly." Rose stated walking towards her with a glare.
"Badly ... as in ... I would become the meal?" Bella asked, eliciting laughs from everyone in the room at her obliviousness.
Just then Alice and Jasper arrived. "Hi Bella, I'm Alice" Alice said as she walked right up to Bella and pulled her into a hug.
Bella just stood there shocked as Alice took a deep breath and stepped back in surprise exclaiming "oh you do smell good," mortifying Edward at his sister's lack of a filter.
Jasper on the other hand, had stopped just inside the door, getting use to her smell and the feelings of his family. He looked around for Maya and saw her sitting on the counter being hand fed by Emmet.
He silently snarled at the sight of her licking the juices from the meat off his brother's fingers and moved over to grab her and cradle her in his arms. He arranged her so that she could rest her chin on his shoulder, while he buried his nose in her fur to try and drown out Bella's scent.
"Alice what are you ..." She cut Edward off, "it's okay, Bella and I are going to be great friends!" She smiled brightly at him as images of her, Bella, Maya, Rosalie, and Esme hanging out in her bedroom surrounded by clothes and laughing flashed through her mind.
Edward looked pained at her answer, and sent Carlisle a pleading look. Carlisle stepped forward to redirect, introducing Jasper and explaining that he was the newest to their diet and still struggled.
Jasper taking in a lung full of air while his nose was buried in Maya's fur, managed to choke out "it's a pleasure to meet you" before returning his focus to Maya, scratching her head and making her purr. The presence of a human that smelled as good as Bella surrounded by so many vampires was straining his control as he felt all their bloodlust growing.
"It's okay Jasper, I know you won't hurt her" Alice said in the voice she used when talking about one of her visions.
Edward now completely embarrassed by his family, declared that he would take Bella on a tour of the house, and led her off before anyone had a chance to argue.
Esme and Alice turned to each other when they had left, declaring at the same time "cute".
"I think that went well" Carlisle said with a smile. Maya laughed, which came out as strangled, wheezing sound, at this remark as Esme told Rose to clean up the mess she had made.
Soon after, Maya and Jasper headed up to Jasper's room, taking a plate of Esme's amazing cooking with them for Maya to eat. He set her down on the bed and she shifted back to her human form, grabbing one of his shirts that went down to mid-thigh on her and pulling it on. She took the plate from him then and sat on the floor, not wanting to get any food on his bed as he moved to read over her history essay. Something he began doing after the second time she lost marks for putting in the wrong date.
When she was done, they both curled up on his bed together as Jasper read aloud from one of his history books, commenting and correcting the facts as he went. She always loved listening to him talk about history. His love for the topic came through clear in his voice and he had a way of making the events come alive in a way their teacher could never manage.
An hour later, Maya was still curled up with Jasper, purring as he stroked her hair, both enjoying the chance to snuggle together, when Alice bounced into the room.
"It's gonna storm in two days! You guys up for a game?"
"What do you say Darlin', you up for a game?" Jasper pulled back enough to grin down at her.
She matched his grin, "a chance to see you all show off? Si, wouldn't miss it!"
Alice squealed in excitement and clapped her hands, "Awesome! It's been forever since we last had a chance to play!"
She dashed out of the room then, presumably to let the rest of the family know, as Maya and Jasper laughed at her enthusiasm.
As the door swung shut, Maya detangled herself from his arms and made her way over to his closet.
"Where are you goin' Darlin'?"
She glanced over at him, still on the bed, with a grin, "To steal your jersey of course. I have to make sure that everyone knows which team I'm cheering for."
He laughed at that as she disappeared into his closet. It was probably some weird territorial marking instinct he thought with a smirk, but he loved the sight of her in his jersey. Or any of his clothes really. Although he loved the special jersey Alice had made for each of them most. There was just something about seeing her with his name printed on her back that made his inner vampire purr in satisfaction. Much like how her necklace with his name and number stamped on the charm did.