Disclaimer: I do not own the stories Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse or Breaking Dawn or the characters within them. Clackamas High School is in fact a real school however, my portrayal of said school is in no way an accurate reflection I am simply borrowing the name, I don't own it. Clackamas is real and it is also being changed for the purpose of this story.

A/N: Hello dear reader, I'm so happy to be writing this fanfic again! For those of you that have been long awaiting the fifth chapter, I'm so sorry and for those of you that are new to this story I'm so glad it peaked your interest and that you've made it this far.

You may have noticed a name change since my last update. Don't worry I'm still the same author I'm just using a new pen name.

I'm hoping to start working on a original story in the near future so I'd appreciate any feedback that you're willing to offer on my fanfics. I'd love to know if my writing style still has an audience.

Okay. I'll shut up now and let you read.

Enjoy!

Shuffle, Ball, Change.

HER TURN

Chapter Five: Assemblé

"You could have warned me, you know." The words were out of my mouth the second The Mute shut her bedroom door.

"Warned you?" Doe eyes searched my face in confusion.

I looked at her incredulously. "Yeah. Warned me. You live with a freaking teacher, Renesmee,you don't think that warrants a heads up?"

"We don't live with a teacher. Seth lives with his friend and Bella on our property." She shrugged in a fashion that suggested that it was not a big deal.

Seth.

I'd only heard McBabe's first name once when Crazy Lady had used it in her office and at the time it seemed like a secret that I'd been let in on. Yet The Mute just namedropped with such ease like it was nothing special.

Hearing her use his name so casually was almost enough to compel me to test out the syllables on my tongue.

Almost.

I pushed the random thought aside.

"Whatever," Gracelessly, I plopped onto the foot of her bed beside our "baby". "It's still something worth mentioning."

"Duly noted… " She ducked her head sheepishly which caused her bronze ringlets to curtain her face and took a seat at her desk opposite me, "I'm sorry, Colby-Lyn. If you're uncomfortable, we can work somewhere else. We can go to your house or the library?"

Crap.

I was hit by an unexpected wave of emotions, one that made my spine stiffen and my stomach turn. I hadn't set out to make The Mute feel badly and seeing the guilt etched on her perfectly symmetrical face did nothing but make my own guilt increase tenfold. Truthfully, I didn't mind working at her house. Nor did I hate the proximately to McBabe. In fact, I kind of liked it.

"Whoa. Let's not be too hasty." I quickly backtracked. "Your house is fine. It's got a lot of character, and uh… beautiful crown moldings."

The Mute cracked a dimpled smile before turning to her laptop as it hummed to life demanding her attention. "God forbid we work somewhere that doesn't have beautiful crown moldings."

Was that sarcasm? I had no idea that The Mute was capable. I'd always assumed that she was the product of perfect breeding; not speaking unless spoken to with 'no sir's and 'yes, ma'am's thrown in for good measure.

"God forbid." I agreed, returning her sarcastic quip with the same level of playfulness. "But if Principal McQueen ends up being one of your garden gnomes or something I'll have to rethink my stance."

She snorted a laugh in response. "Fair enough."

We fell into a unified silence, the only sound being The Mute's fingers dancing over the Chiclet keyboard.

I hadn't really taken note of my surroundings when I first entered the room but I was able to do so as she typed. The Mute's bedroom was exactly what I'd envisioned for an Alabaster Clone; neat and tidy with nothing out of place. The only things that hinted at an ounce of personality were the framed photos that covered one of her walls in a gallery-esque display.

"Did you take those?" I asked inclining my head in the direction of her gallery wall.

She nodded. "Yeah."

I got off her bed so that I could take a closer look. The bulk of her pictures were candid shots of her biological brother Edward, Bella and some tall Native American dude who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. Judging by the quality of the images none of them were taken with a smartphone or digital camera. She was old school.

I gesture to one of the many pictures of the mystery guy. "Your boyfriend?"

"What? Oh no! No." She laughed almost nervously and the slightest hint of a blush graced her pale cheeks. "That's just Jacob Black. He's a… family friend and Seth's housemate. Jake's always around so I've taken his picture a couple of times."

My eyes roamed over the wall again. A couple? You'd think the guy was a long-lost member of BTS with the amount of snapshots that she had on display.

Picking up on my skepticism The Mute quickly added, "He's pretty photogenic."

"I think you mean he's pretty. Period." Jacob had the same dark hair, tanned skin and chiseled-by-God-himself cheekbones that McBabe possessed along with a similar kilowatt smile. However, their eyes were where their similarities ended. Yes, they were both a rich chocolate brown but Jacob's didn't hold a fraction of the depth that McBabe's did. His eyes were so deep a girl could easily get lost in them never to be seen again.

There was no denying it; this Jacob Black dude was pretty but McBabe… McBabe was beautiful.

"Jake's just a friend." The Mute insisted.

A knowing smirk made its way onto my face. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Did The Mute have a little crush? All signs pointed to: Hell Yes.

Deciding that it was none of my business, I let it go and returned my attention back to our assignment.

"So what are we naming it?

"The baby? I'm not sure. I pulled up some popular baby names online." She held her laptop out to me.

I read off a few, "Sophia, Emma, Amanda, Mia." I looked down at our bouncing bundle of wires and sensors clad in pastel pink. "It doesn't really look much like an Amanda or a Sophia to me."

"You're right, she doesn't."

"Do you know how your parents came up with your name?" It certainty was unique enough to warrant its very own Batman origin story.

"It's a portmanteau of my namesakes, Renee and Esme."

The puzzle pieces fell into place. "So you're named after your birth mother and adoptive mother?"

The Mute shrugged. "Yeah… something like that."

She looked a little uncomfortable and as a fellow adoptee I sympathized with her. Not everyone's adoption story was easy to tell especially if the adopted individual had been old enough to recall the events themselves instead of relive them through stories secondhand like I had.

"I can relate. Apparently, before I was adopted my bio parents named me Lyn, which is why my mom and dad decided to tack it onto the name that they gave me. 'That way my past will always be apart of my future.'"

"That's beautiful."

I used to think so too, until middle school and all of its hormonal angst ridden glory. That's when I dropped the "Lyn". The way I saw it was that my biological parents didn't want anything to do with me I wasn't obligated to carry them around for the rest of my life.

"What do you think of C-O-R-E?" I suggested. "Pronounced K-oh - Ree ."

"A portmanteau of our names." She beamed, her dimples making their second appearance of the evening. "I like it."

"Good. Because it's also going to have to serve as our ship name since Kimye is already taken."

"Oh no." The Mute deadpanned, "Say it isn't so? Kimye is taken."

More sarcasm. So the first sarcastic retort had not been a one-off. Good to know.

"I know," I shook my fist in mock anger, not missing a beat. "Those Kardashians are incorrigible."

"Bible. They are totes incorrigible." She drawled in a perfect imitation of the most popular Kardashian sister.

Well, this could be the beginning of a beautiful partnership.

Mornings and I had never really gotten along; this morning, in particular seemed to be out for blood. Despite the fact that I had already downed a cup of black coffee on my way to school and was gingerly sipping on the remnants of a hazelnut latte at my locker I was still insanely tired.

I'd taken Core overnight—despite The Mute offering to keep it—only to be rewarded by it crying on the hour every hour all night long.

Of course our kid hadn't taken after Renesmee. Silence must be a recessive gene.

On a positive note, I'd gained a newfound respect for parents who had to withstand sleepless nights due to newborns without removable batteries.

"You look like crap, C.C." Lily said in lieu of a greeting.

I blew an unruly curl out of my face. "Oh, stop it, you big flirt. You're going to make me blush."

In my near comatose state I'd abandoned my contact lenses in favour of my seldom worn glasses and had forgone combing my hair altogether opting for what I thought was a messy yet stylish high ponytail.

Lily in all of her perfection-personified glory was obviously not a fan of my make-under.

"Okay. Maybe 'crap' was a little harsh." She admitted.

"You think?"

Lily continued like I hadn't said anything, "I should have said 'tired'. You look really tired."

"Blame Core." I said byway of explanation.

"Core?"

I gesture to The Mute's and my assignment that I had haphazardly placed on the top shelf of my locker beside my chemistry textbook. "It wouldn't stop crying."

"Probably because you named her Core." Lily said scrunching her button nose up in disgust.

"It's a portmanteau." I muttered defensively.

"A what?"

I sighed shutting my locker. "A portmanteau. The blending of two words to form a new word. Like 'frenemy'."

"Oh." her head bobbed up and down in understanding. "So what did you combine to get Core?"

"Our names. Colby and Renesmee."

"Cute."

I decided to ignore the way that Lily stretched the "u" a tad longer than necessary implying that she thought it was the exact opposite of "cute"

"So, what did you and Tomas name your spawn?" I asked as we began to make our way toward our first period class.

Lily had been paired with Tomas Alves, a boy who was basically the human form of apathy. He also happened to be Lily's crush of the month so it goes without saying that she was ecstatic about the partnership.

"Lillian Alves." She said simply.

Wish fulfilment at it's finest.

"Cute." I mimicked, drawing the "u" out the way Lily had moments before.

My mockery was rewarded with a roll of her moss-coloured orbs. "You're just jealous you didn't think of naming your kid after me."

I opened my mouth; a witty retort on the tip of my tongue but something that Lily said caused me to promptly shut it.

My kid.

My kid was not with me.

I'd forgotten Core in my locker.

"Shit." I cursed, turning my gaze skyward.

Lily came to a halt beside me. "What?"

"I have to go back to my locker," I said whirling around on my heels. If I hurried I could still make it to Kwon's class before the bell.

"C.C.?" Lily's voice sounded mildly irritated.

"I'll see you in class," I called over my shoulder, barely glancing back as I made my way back through the emptying hallway.

The bell had rung five minutes ago and I was still at my locker. It had taken me six tries and a string of muttered profanities to get my locker open which is essentially the equivalent of cracking open a bottle of champagne and whispering sweet nothings to it in my book.

Core was exactly where I had left it, silently teetering on the top shelf beside my Chemistry textbook.

"Is that a… baby? In you locker?" I heard a rich, husky voice ask from not too far behind.

I turned around to find McBabe with his features contorted into a curious expression.

I had to resist the urge to rip the oversized thick black frames off my face and chuck them down the hallway before he had enough time to register that they were there. "Clearwater. Hey. Oh. Um. Yeah, it is. It's for a project." My voice sounded lame even to my own ears.

Why is speaking in coherent sentences next to impossible with this guy? Hot people are the worst.

"Ah. So this is the project that you and Nessie are working on." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his charcoal dress pants and rocked back on the heels of his red Chuck Taylors, "Cool."

"Er—Nessie?"

The Mute had a nickname? He had a nickname for The Mute? They're that close?

For some reason that fact didn't sit well with me.

"Renesmee." McBabe amended. "Nessie started out as something my friend, Jake, called her and it sort of stuck."

My response of "Oh, cool." came out at the same time he'd said "Cool glasses by the way."

His complement took me by surprise. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He affirmed, rocking back on his heels again with an easy smile splayed on his face.

I adjusted the placement of the frames on my nose with a gentle shove of my index finger and made a mental note to wear my glasses more often. "Thanks."

We lapsed into silence and I couldn't help but notice that we were the only two occupants of the hallway at least the only two occupants within twenty feet of my locker.

"Late for class again, Miss Cohen?"

Or at least I thought we were the only two occupants.

You would think that after all of these years my body would have evolved and developed some sort of warning mechanism that could detect when Crazy Lady was near but no, I was still Spidey-senseless.

"No." I said automatically and then recant my original stance, "Well, yes, technically I guess but I was just—"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to talk yourself out of this one," Crazy Lady interrupted, cutting me off. "It looks like Mr. Clearwater has caught you red-handed so to speak. Honestly, Miss Cohen, I am truly surprised that after your antics last week that you have not turned over a new leaf. You would think you would at the very least attempt to curb your behaviour and comply with the rules. Yet here we are again. Somethings never change." She tsked with a shake of her head.

I was trying to change. I really was making an effort to obey all of the rules. I was even wearing Clackamas High School regulated basic black flats in February for fuck sake. I was just about to say as much when McBabe jumped in before I could open my cleared his throat and McQueen's gaze reluctantly shifted from my face to his.

"Actually, Principal McQueen. I stopped Colby on her way to class. She's late because of me… My bad."

"You… stopped her?"

"Yes," He confirmed. "Colby had asked an interesting question about Alexander Pope in class the other day and I was following up with a response. I suppose time got away from me."

"I see." Crazy Lady's age spotted hands travelled over her dated navy printed pantsuit to smooth away nonexistent wrinkles. "She will need a hall pass, Mr. Clearwater. In addition to a tardy slip."

He produced a note pad from his back pocket and with a flourish that seemed to be solely for Crazy Lady's benefit handed me two slips of pale yellow paper.

"I trust that Mr. Clearwater answered your question, Miss Cohen. You may start making your way to first period."

Holy. Shit.

Holy shit.

Holy shit!

Did that really just happen? Did McBabe actually just get away with lying to Crazy Lady? Did McBabe actually just lie to Crazy Lady for me?

My eyes automatically sought out McBabe's, desperate to express every one of the emotions that I was experiencing since this exchange began. In only a brief moment of eye contact I tried to wordlessly convey my shock, amusement and most importantly my gratitude.

"Now, Miss. Cohen." The fact that Crazy Lady was over this conversation was evident in her tone.

I tucked Core under my arm the way a quarterback would tuck a football under their arm and started to walk away.

I hoped he was able to read how much I appreciated what he'd just done. I chanced a glance back at McBabe and over the top of Crazy Lady's greying mop of hair he met my stare.

Something in his hypnotic eyes told me he knew and when he smiled his warm smile I was sure of it; McBabe could see how thankful I was.

A feeling of euphoria washed over me and I couldn't stop the grin that made its way onto my face even if I wanted to.

Holy. Shit. This guy is awesome.

A/N: So there you have it, Chapter Five. As per usual, I really enjoyed writing this, I especially enjoyed writing the Coby and Renesmee scene. You can expect more of them in future chapters. Speaking of Renesmee, I thought it would be cool if she were into photography considering her gift. Do you guys think its OOC?

I've noticed that we haven't really had a Seth/Colby interaction from Seth's perspective, that will change next chapter.

I really appreciate whatever feedback you guys are willing to leave.

I hope you liked this update. Thank you so much for reading!