Control [Carlisle Cullen]

Fifteen

Eleanor forced herself to go to school the next day. When she first woke up, she was dead set on not going. She didn't want to care about anything, she wanted to feel sorry for herself.

But then her thoughts wandered to Carlisle. Although the very thought of him made her want to scream and cry until her throat was raw, she knew that he wouldn't want her to stop her whole life because of him. So she got up.

She sat in Jess's car, her eyes trained on the road in front of them. Jess chattered away beside her, but she didn't listen. Eleanor just wanted the day to be over so she could go home and cry in bed.

Angela noticed something was wrong right when she got out of the car. Usually her friend was cheerful in the mornings, she always seemed to have a smile on her face. But now her eyes were dull and her mouth was turned down and she seemed out of it. She seemed to be in a different world all together.

Bella wasn't there. Eleanor didn't expect her to be, but she texted her anyway. She didn't answer.

Classes passed quickly, and Eleanor soon found herself sitting at her lunch table. She tossed her food around on her plate. She wasn't hungry.

Jessica looked up from her conversation with Lauren, and glanced at her sister. She noticed she hadn't ate breakfast before they left the house, and now she wasn't eating her lunch. Jess knew the Cullens' had left, but she wasn't sure why Eleanor was so affected by it. She was friends with them, it's not like she was involved with any of them. Unless...

Her twin watched Eleanor glance behind her shoulder, and look at the Cullen table. Her shoulders slumped and she turned back to her plate.

Eleanor's throat was tight, and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't want to feel like this. She didn't want to feel weak, because she knew she wasn't weak. She wasn't weak.

She raised her drink to her mouth, and took a sip, "I'm going to class. See you in there, Ang."

Angela furrowed her brows together and watched as her friend walked away. Jessica nudged her shoulder, and gave her a look. Something was wrong, and they knew their friend was hiding something more from them.

---

Bella had texted Eleanor during her last class of the day. She didn't send much, just a simple text 'come over.'

"Jess?" Eleanor ran up to her sister at her locker, "can you run me to Bella's before you go home?"

Jess stood silent, and studied her sister's face. She seemed somewhat better, though her eyes were still clouded over and her lips were still pulled down. But her posture was straighter, her shoulders weren't slouched.

"Yeah, will I need to come get you?"

"No," her smile was sad, "she'll bring me home."

The ride to Bella's was quiet. Jessica wanted to bring up the topic of the Cullen family, but she was scared of the reaction she'd get out of her sister.

Eleanor found Bella sitting on the couch. She was staring down at the coffee table, lost in her thoughts. El immediately noticed that Bella looked worse than she did, "Bells?"

The girl's head shot up, and she locked eyes with Eleanor, "hey, thanks for coming."

Eleanor went to sit down next to her, and pulled some of Bella's blanket so that it covered the both of them. El wrapped an arm around her friend, and pulled her to her side.

Bella began to sniffle, causing tears to come to Eleanor's eyes. 'No,' she thought, 'no more crying.'

"How did you get up today?" Bella's voice was shaky.

Eleanor sighed, "I wasn't going to. But I knew Carlisle wouldn't want me to lay around all day because of him, so I got up. Edward wouldn't want you to do this either, Bella."

"I can't believe they left."

"They'll be back, Bella. Just give Edward some time."

Bella stayed silent.

The two sat on the couch for hours. Eleanor drifted off a few times, but always snapped back awake each time she heard Bella start crying.

She didn't leave until Charlie got home. Bella was now sleeping, so she didn't want to wake her to get a ride home. Eleanor bid the police chief goodbye, and began the short walk to her house. She thanked God that Bella didn't live too far away from her.

It was just beginning to grow dark. The once bright sunset was now fading into the night sky. While there were many houses around, there were few cars out, causing the night to be more quiet than most.

Eleanor stuffed her hands in her pockets, and focused her eyes on her feet. She walked quickly- it was cold out, and she was ready to get home.

Chills went down her spine, and hair stood up on the back of her neck. Eleanor stopped and turned towards the woods, narrowing her eyes. With her hands still in her pockets, she let her powers circle around her hands, just in case something decided to pop out at her.

She waited for a moment, looking for the eyes she felt on her back. When she didn't see anything, she let out a sigh, and continued to her house.

She made it there quickly, and almost ran up the steps. Once inside, she leaned her back on the door, and sighed in relief.

"Eleanor?"

Eleanor looked to the top of the stairs to see her twin staring down at her, "yeah?"

"Can I talk to you?"

El nodded, and made her way up the stairs. Jess led the way to her bedroom, and closed the door once Eleanor was inside. The two sat on the bed, and Eleanor entwined her hands together, "what's up?"

"What was wrong with you today? Are you upset because they left?"

Eleanor's mouth fell open, and she stared at her sister with wide eyes. Jess raised an eyebrow, "I get why Bella's upset because she was dating Edward, but you're not dating any of them... right?"

"They're all dating someone," Eleanor chuckled, nervously. She didn't want to talk about this, about him.

"Not Dr. Cullen."

Her heart clenched, and she looked down at her hands, "he's way too old for me, Jess."

"That doesn't mean anything and you know it," Jess said.

Eleanor looked back up at her sister, and swallowed against the lump in her throat. She was beginning to hate her throat constantly being tight, "please don't tell anyone."

Jessica sighed, and grabbed Eleanor's shoulders, pulling her into a hug, "you know I won't. You're my sister, I'm not going to say anything."

A tear escaped one of Eleanor's closed eyes, and she smiled, "thank you."