LET DOWN

one.            cactus

▬ CORI SWAN WAS SURE of two things as she lugged her suitcase out of her house; one, that she'd miss her mom and her stepdad and two, she wouldn't miss the heat.

It was no secret that Cori, who was extremely vocal about it, detested the sheer heat of Phoenix. She would sit in front of the air conditioner for hours reading, or she would hang half way into the fridge with the door open until someone – usually Bella – told her to knock it off.

She couldn't help it. She didn't like to sweat, she hated it with every fiber of her being. Complaining that it made her feel the need to shower several times a day, which just wasn't feasible.

She huffed, squinting under her dark sunglasses at the sun as she started down the driveway towards the car. Phil, her stepdad, stood by the trunk rearranging her other suitcase and Bella's suitcase to make sure everything was gonna fit properly.

Just as Phil looked up, ready to rush the girl, the wheel of her suitcase jammed and when she turned, mid step, to see what the problem was she tripped. The toe of her right shoe caught on her other shoe and she hit the pavement, her suitcase following her down.

"Oh, shit." Phil rushed towards her. "Cori, you okay?" He helped her to her feet the second he was close enough, her suitcase forgotten as he checked her head for any injuries. "You took a pretty bad tumble."

"I meant to do that." She mumbled, her nose scrunched up in a wince when she took a step.

"I'm sure you did, Slugger." He chuckled, lightly clapping her on the back. "You gonna be alright?"

"Oh, Phillip, you sound like mom." She waved him off, the more she walked on it the less it hurt. "Besides, it wouldn't be such a momentous occasion if I didn't get at least one more bruise before the move."

"Momentous?" He questioned, clearly amused by the girl as he bent down to retrieve her suitcase and her sunglasses.

"I'm leaving the desert."

"Not technically the desert."

"There's a cactus, it's the desert." She mumbled and he chuckled, shaking his head as they made their way to the car. The young girl's blue eyes traveled over to her older sister who stood with her eyes closed and a small cactus in her hands. "Why is she holding a baby cactus?" She looked over at Phil and he shrugged, but his eyes were completely focused on the trunk as he played Tetris with the suitcases.

Cori slid into the car, laughing at Phil's victory shout when he finally got the trunk to close properly.

"Come on, I love you both but we got a plane to catch!" He called out, looking over at Reneé and Bella. "Even Cori's ready to go! And she's always late."

"Hey!" She leaned out of the car, her eyes narrowed at him.

"You can't tell me I'm wrong." He grinned and she narrowed her eyes even more before sliding back into the car, grumbling to herself and he laughed at her annoyance with him being right.

"Mom, your husband is being mean to me."

"It's okay, honey." Reneé reached a hand out, smoothing her fingers over Cori's hair before she leaned in and kissed the girl's forehead. "Phil, be nice."

"Yeah, Phillip, be nice." Cori stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled, very amused with the girl's antics and Reneé shook her head at the two.

"Now who's holding us up?" Bella asked, looking between the three of them as they laughed.

"At least I'm in the car." The youngest mumbled as she turned, sitting with her legs in front of her as Phil pushed her door closed.

"Alright, everyone in the car." Phil waved Reneé into the car, shutting her door when she was in her seat. Bella smiled at the two as she opened her door and slid into the backseat beside her sister.

"So, what's with the cactus?" Cori asked, poking the small pot that the plant sat in.

"Just wanted a cactus."

"And you guys say I'm the weird one." Cori rolled her eyes, settling into her seat as Phil slid into the driver's seat. Bella rolled her eyes at the smaller girl, using the palm of her hand to shove her forehead.

"We ready to roll?" He asked, looking from his wife to the two teenagers in the backseat.

"Let's roll out!" Cori grinned, drumming her hands on the back of her mom's seat, making everyone in the car laugh.

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▬ CORI GROANED TO HERSELF as she looked up at the screen, their flight had been delayed by a little less than an hour. Which, in the grand scheme of things wasn't that long, but she wanted to be gone. She wanted to be out of the heat and in the nice cool weather of Forks.

"This is ridiculous." She huffed, plopping into the seat next to her sister, who rolled her eyes at the girl's dramatics.

"Checking every five minutes isn't gonna make the time go by faster."

"One can hope." Cori slouched in her seat, moving her sunglasses down over her eyes as she let out a rather aggressive breath. "You got the tickets, right?" She tilted her head a little to look over at her older sister through her dark shades.

"No, I left them on the counter." Bella stated sarcastically. "Guess we have to stay." She shrugged, giving her sister a smile.

"You're not funny."

"I amuse myself." She hummed. "But, yes, I have them."

"I don't get why Mom doesn't think I can keep track of my own ticket. I'm sixteen. I think I can-"

"You lost your ticket when we went to the movies last month, just on the way from the counter to the guy scanning them. You lost the remote to the TV so we had to get up to change the channel for two weeks. You lost your key to the house... six times. Need I go on?"

"Well, when you put it like that." She muttered, sliding down in her seat some more as she crossed her arms over her chest. "And I wouldn't say I lost them, more like misplaced them."

"Same thing." Bella patted the top of her head and she grumbled as she swatted at her sister's hand. "Want a water before we board?"

"If you're buying."

Bella chuckled quietly as she pushed herself up and made her way over to the little store in the airport where she bought two bottles of water and a bag of chips before she rejoined her sister, who was still complaining about the delay.

Cori slouched down in her seat, stretching her leg out in front of her as her sunglasses rested on the bridge of her nose. She filled her cheeks with air and held it for a moment before the kid next to her giggled. The simple sound made the teenager turn, a smile on her face as she looked over at the kid.

So, she filled her cheeks with air again as she moved her sunglasses up into her hair, then she poked her cheek letting out a little puff of air before looking at the kid with wide eyes. The little boy just laughed, making her laugh and the boy's mom just smiled at the two.

"You're a child." Bella chuckled, watching her sister interact with the boy.

"I'm making friends, Bella." Cori glared at her before turning back to the kid. "You got a sister, kid?" He nodded. "They never are any fun, are they?" She joked, making the kid laugh again. "You got a name?"

"Lucas."

"Hi, Lucas. I'm Cori." He held her hand out and he shook it.

"You can make friends with a seven year old but you can't make friends with people your age." Bella mused.

"Ignore her, she didn't have breakfast. She's grumpy." She told the boy, holding her hand up close to her mouth as if she were telling him a secret.

The rest of the wait to board the plane, Bella watched as Cori played tic-tac-toe, rock-paper-scissors, and a short game of go fish with the boy – she had packed a deck of cards to keep her busy on the plane. And the time went by rather quickly, then they were on the plane and taking off. Cori smiled as she looked out the window, watching the ground get farther and farther away.

>>>>> • <<<<<

▬ CORI HAD SPENT MOST of the flight reading, she was about half-way done with the second book of The Vampire Academy series. A series she picked up only because her one friend in Phoenix, a girl named Lola Manchester, had placed the first book in her hand about a year before. She begged her to read it, having just finished it and needing someone to talk to. But she wanted Cori to understand it like she did, she wanted to have a discussion about it.

Cori joked about starting a book club, Lola was not amused. And for the next few weeks, five weeks exactly, Lola would ask Cori how far she had gotten into the book. If she had finished the book. And who her favorite character was.

Lola was impatient and Cori, well, when someone wanted her to do something she took her sweet-ass time doing it. That is until she got hooked on the book by week four and nearly devoured it whole.

Cori shifted in her seat, pulled her leg up and rested her foot on the edge of her seat. Bella watched with pinched brows, wondering how Cori seemed to have an insane amount of room in her seat. She has shifted several times, moving her legs up into her seat, once sitting criss-cross but at an angle so her knee wasn't in Bella's space, then she would move them back to the small space between her and the seat in front of her. And while Bella's knees were merely inches from the back of the seat before her, Cori seemed to have no issues with the space.

Cori was just tiny. Her legs short and, something Bella was now aware of, super flexible. She would almost describe the girl as a pretzel as she twisted all kinds of ways in her seat, never finding a single position comfortable enough to stick with for longer than a few minutes.

Her needless contortion act, as Bella liked to call it, was the main reason Cori always got the window seat. She couldn't sit still for very long and Bella knew if anyone else was subjected to the girl's constant shifting about, they would go absolutely mental.

With just a few minutes left in the air, the seatbelt sign glowing bright above them and the pilot's voice filling the otherwise quiet cabin to let them know they would be landing in mere minutes, Cori marked her place and shoved her book into her bag. She dropped her legs and pressed her back into her seat, her head turned to look out the window as the ground grew closer, all the buildings growing bigger the closer they got. And when the plane finally hit the ground, Cori gripped Bella's hand as they were jostled about a little. Landings made her stomach turn.

It took about fifteen minutes for the plane to stop at the gate and another five before the Swan sisters were able to grab their things and make their way off the giant, metal bird.

Bella kept a close eye on her sister as they followed the crowd, Cori's eyes trained on the floor and the brass plated fish that had been pressed into the floor as decoration. She loved that small little detail, it made this airport different from all the others, which all felt eerily similar.

"Cori." Bella mumbled, yanking her sister by her sleeve and the short girl let out a small yelp of surprise, drawing a few looks their way from the people around them. The sixteen-year-old smiled awkwardly and waved, her cheeks tinged pink. "You're like a five-year-old." Bella muttered, keeping a good hold on her sister's sleeve so they didn't get separated by the crowds of people that seemed to care little about sticking to one side or the other no matter which way they were going.

"I like the fish." She shrugged, gripping the hard plastic handle of her suitcase as her bookbag bounced lightly against her back with each step. "It's a cute little detail."

"Dad's probably waiting for us."

"Calm down, Bells, don't get too excited." She muttered sarcastically, seeing as Bella wasn't all that siked about seeing their father after so many years. "If your smile gets any bigger, I think you may combust."

"She's a comedian."

"Eh, I assume myself." She shrugged, repeating what Bella had told her when they were still waiting in the Phoenix airport.

⚘‎ nova speaks┆chapter one is officially up!!!! cori is back everyone!!!

i am so excited about this book and all that i have planned for cori! and it's kind of surreal that i'm bringing he back after so many years.

i created cori, like, four years ago and now that i understand a little better as a character i am happy to explore things i hadn't before. and my writing is an million times better than it was back then lol

for anyone who had read the original version, thank you so much for loving my characters as much as i do and coming back to see them. i really appreciate it!!

and if you are a brand new reader, welcome! and I hope you come to love cori at least half as much as i do! she really is my baby lol