His Wolf Pup - a Jasper Hale Story

112- Losing and Getting Lost

Summer in Forks was once again upon us, and we decided to spend it doing fun things as often as we could. Our family was still talking about the idea of moving soon, and we felt like moving at the end of the year would be an excellent time to go. If that were to be true, this would be our last summer in Forks for a while.

There were lots of events that filled our days. The pack held lots of barbecues, the boys played lots of video games, and the girls went on many shopping trips. Some days stood out, of course.

A new Mario Party game was released on the Wii, and Emmet bought it for us to attempt playing together one day. Only four could play at a time, and Emmet specifically said he wanted to test the game with me, Noah, and Edward, so we all gathered in the living room to test out his new game. I wasn't sure why he wanted to play it so badly, but we agreed quickly. Within minutes we were already fighting.

"Emmet! Stop it!" I whined. "You keep knocking my character off the screen!"

"I thought you were playing as Peach," he told me.

"I am not. I'm Mario."

"I'm Peach," Edward reminded him.

"Well, I was trying to terrorize Noah, so apparently, I was completely wrong," Emmet mumbled, making the rest of us laugh slightly at him.

During a different round, Noah and Emmet were teaming up, so I decided to cheat with Edward.

Push him right, I'll push Noah left, and we'll win, I told him.

'Will do,' he responded.

The two of us worked together in synch, not saying a word and winning the round.

"You cheaters!" Emmet yelled, shoving Edward with his arm. "Stop using your powers."

"You're the worst," Noah muttered, rolling his eyes but smiling while looking at the two arguing.

In all honesty, it was always fun playing games with the boys. Jasper never understood why I enjoyed it so much, but it was such a simple thing that most normal people did, so playing with them made me feel normal.

When the game finally ended, I remembered the only reason I hated playing games with the boys.

"Ha! Ha!" Emmet yelled, standing up to cheer. "I win! You lose! Suck it!"

A little while later, Alice, Rosalie, and Bree convinced me to go shopping with them. They claimed we needed new summer clothes, but we all knew that wasn't true.

"What about this one, Emma?" Alice asked me, holding up a blue summer dress. "I think it goes well with your eyes."

"You are so weird, Alice," Bree said, smiling at the older girl.

I took the dress from Alice as Rosalie walked around the corner holding as many pieces of clothing as she could. "Alice, tell me which of these you think I'll wear."

As Alice started flipping through the clothes Rosalie had brought, Bree and I continued to look at dresses. "Have you and Edward picked a date?" I asked Bree.

"We're thinking of having the wedding in August," she told me shyly. "But we don't want to make it big and go all out. I really just want you all there."

"That sounds so perfect," I told her. "And if Alice has anything to say about it, I'll fight her for you."

"Don't be so mean," Alice said, getting our attention once again. "I've already seen the wedding, and it will be small and perfect."

"Even I know you are lying," Rosalie told her. "But I know it will all work out."

We finished shopping and left with more clothes than we needed.

A week before my birthday, Esme and Carlisle took me, Jasper, Charlotte, Seth, Leah, and Nathan to a nearby botanical garden. It was a cloudy day, and Alice could foresee everything going perfectly, so we went. I had recently bought a larger van that fit eight people since our family was so big, so we all went in one car. As soon as we arrived, I knew we were in for an exciting day.

"Look at all the flowers!" Charlotte said excitedly, pointing with one hand while dragging Seth with the other.

"Can we go look at the roses?" Leah asked, looking back at me for permission.

"Of course, just don't go too far and stay together," I told her. I watched the four kids run off together as Jasper grabbed my hand in his. "They're going to get lost, aren't they?" I asked him.

"Oh, for sure," he responded.

Esme and Carlisle stepped up next to me, walking with us as we spoke. "Should we be worried?" Esme asked me.

"Nah," I replied. "We'll find them eventually."

"You know," Carlisle started to say as we walked. "You guys are surprisingly good with them."

"What?" Jasper laughed out. "You thought we were going to suck at parenting them?"

"That's not what he means," Esme told us quickly, trying to make sure we didn't get into an argument or something over this.

"I know, Esme, don't worry," Jasper replied. "That's just a funny sentence to say."

"To be fair," Carlisle said. "You two were the most responsible out of the group, but you never seemed like you'd be good with children."

"Well, we learned from the best," I told them. "Besides, three of them are teenagers, and one of them ages really quickly."

"How old are they again?" Esme asked me. "I feel like I forget all the time for some reason."

"Seth phased at 14, Leah at 16, and Nathan at 15," I told her.

"But they all act like they're 12," Jasper added, making me laugh.

The four of us walked around for a while, enjoying the pretty flowers and plants before we decided we should try and find the four kids. We split up and wandered for about ten minutes before Jasper and I found all four of them just sitting in the walkway, waiting.

As soon as Nathan saw us, he jumped up and ran toward me, tackling me in a hug. "We thought we were lost forever," he told me.

The other three quickly got up and followed Nathan, wrapping both Jasper and me in hugs. "What happened?" I asked them as they pulled back from their hugs.

"We got lost," Leah admitted. "But we didn't want to get more lost, so we sat down hoping you guys would eventually find us."

"It was funny," Charlotte told us.

"Was it now?" Jasper asked her, picking her up and placing her on his hip. "Were they acting funny?"

"Yeah," she replied. "They thought you would never find us, but I knew you would."

"Glad one of you trusts us," I told her, smiling before starting to walk the way we came, back to the entrance.

We walked as a group for a few minutes till Jasper, and I realized we also had no idea how to get back to the entrance. So, we all sat down on a bench and waited for Carlisle and Esme to find us. Charlotte sat on Jasper's lap, and we talked about random nonsense to pass the time.

After a few minutes, Carlisle and Esme came walking around the corner, smiles on their faces. "And here they are," Carlisle said, looking at us.

"And what happened here?" Esme asked us.

"We found the kids," I told them. "And then we got lost and sat here hoping you would find us."

Both of them laughed at us for a moment before Carlisle said, "Well, come on, let's go home now."

They led the way for the rest of us back to the entrance and to the car, rounding out a very successful trip.