1. The Stores From Hell

Bella.

"Ugh." I hated shopping. And Alice knew this. Which makes me wonder why she always dragged me along. You'd have thought that she would have realized, by now, that even Jasper is better company than me!! And he is a guy, for crying out loud! But all he has to do is carry the very-masculine-looking pink Victoria's Secret bags around as he follows after Alice. I, on the other hand, fell victim to Alice and her merciless game of Barbie-Doll-Bella. The mall, for both me and Jasper, has become a personal hell for us both. Seriously. Alice always thought that we would 'overreact' whenever we walked within a 200-yard-diameter of the mall and acted as if it had fangs. Honestly, it might as well have had fangs.

"Quit complaining, Bella." Alice said quickly as she tugged at my wrist, only to make my feet shuffle forward a few inches. "It isn't just any normal shopping day," of course not. All shopping trips were special. "we're going shopping for your date, silly!"

"What date?! Alice, what did you do?! You know I hate blind dates!!" I fumed. I. Just. URG!! Great, I can't even form an intelligible thought. That's how angry I was at her. She didn't seem to notice. Big mistake on her part.

"Come on Bella! You are in desperate need of a social life, and you know it!"

"Alice, if you know that I already knew it, then why do you bother telling me?! Better yet, if you know that I know, which I do, then don't you think that I would work at my own speed?! I don't need to rush into things like you seem to think I do."

"Aw, Bells, please don't be mad. It's just...really depressing to watch you try and have fun when you go out with Jazz, Rose, Emmett, and I, when really you just feel like a fifth wheel." That was true. "So...I decided to change that! You can thank me later!!" Why, Alice? Why on earth would I want to thank you? Help!! I screamed internally.

Alice pulled even harder at my wrist, forcing me to take a couple of involuntary steps forward, before I gave up altogether. There was no way I could win. Cruel, cruel world...

--

Wow. New record. We have been shopping for all of...wow, 30 minutes. And I ALREADY have 8 (different) bags of clothes that I will most likely never wear. Jasper looked pretty tired after a while, so I took some of his burden off. And I instantly regretted it. I could already feel the circulation in my wrist/ hand/ fingers being cut off. How does Alice go from store-to-store SO FAST?! My feet are killing me! And there goes Alice, out of yet again ANOTHER store, one that I haven't even been into yet. She just kept going. In the time it took me to get into Abercrombie, she had already been in 3 other stores, all of which obviously disappointed her, because she came out carrying nothing.

I, personally, don't see what's so special about Abercrombie. The shirts just say 'Abercrombie' and nothing more. Usually. The occasional 'Fitch' shirt, too.

It also smelled. It was so sweet and sickly, that it instantly made my nose burn, my mouth dry, and my head spin. It also throbbed. Ugh. I didn't feel so well anymore. Stupid Abercrombie. "Uh...Alice...I need to leave...this store is making...everything feel funny..." I said as I tried to walk out. I was only three feet from the exit. Wow. I couldn't even get further than 3 feet into a store without feeling sick. Yet another record was broken. Woo-hoo. My lucky day.

"Fine. The food court is just around the corner. Wait for me there, okay?" Alice said. I nodded, afraid to open my mouth.

So, I walked around the corner, and sure enough, the food court was there. I wasn't at all surprised that Alice had the layout of the mall memorized, not one little bit. However, I didn't really care. I sat on a bench, just to get back up again. It was just too noisy, with little kids begging their moms to buy them things, or squealing girls gushing over who's-taking-who to the prom.

My already-throbbing head really couldn't take much more of this.

I stood up and I saw a very peaceful looking café up ahead. About time something good happened to me. I was beginning to think that this day would never look up.

I put my hand over my forehead to hopefully make the throbbing subside, to no avail. I shrugged off to the café, not caring that I probably looked like I was about to die, and made my way over to the nearest empty table.

I pulled out the chair, but when I went to sit down, I already knew it was a lost cause. My trajectory was way off. I turned at the wrong angle and missed the chair by about 2 inches.

Wow. Fail.

I closed my eyes and prepared for impact with my long-time-buddy, the floor.

It took me a couple of seconds to realize that the impact never happened. Though, that could just be my brain reacting to the fume of 'Abercrombie'...But, no. I opened my eyes and looked down to see that a pair of hands had braced my fall. I exhaled sharply, glad that I, this time, I didn't have to be hurt by my own clumsiness.

This time.

I got up and spun around so I could properly thank whoever saved me, not that I honestly cared. I just wanted to be alone, so that this stupid headache could go away. As soon as I saw his face, my headache felt on million miles away, though.

As I looked into his glistening emerald eyes, I realized that he was..beautiful? No, that word did him no justice. Gorgeous? Still too vague. Godly. That seemed fitting. His bronze hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and he still looked absolutely perfect. I felt a pang of jealously. I knew most people were more interesting than me, but he went above and beyond that. He didn't even fit into the same little bubble as the rest of the world. He had his own little bubble. No fair. I wanted to stick my tongue out, but that would look really strange, I'm sure.

That's about when I realized that I wasn't breathing. "Thank you." I exhaled. I sounded like I had just gotten the breath knocked out of me. Honestly, I had.

"No problem." He said. His voice was like music. Music! That was just messed up, and I had no idea why. "You don't look so well...and you didn't even come close to the chair." He said with somewhat of a smirk on his face. Then it went away. "Are you okay?" He said with evident concern in his voice. I could feel his eyes bore into me, as if trying to lift the answer from my mind.

Wow.

Just...WOW.

I probably looked like total idiot, just standing there. I began to grow self-conscious, and I could feel the warmth rush up to my cheeks. I nodded, and small part of me wondered why I would not be okay. Then I remembered my headache. Would sound weird if I said that as soon as I looked at him, I completely forgot that it was there? I felt compelled to explain. "You probably thought I was drunk or something. I'm not. I get like this every time I come out of Abercrombie. Nothing new." he smiled and let out a chuckle and, if it was even possible, he looked even more unbelievable than before.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Bella," I answer automatically, without even thinking. Bad idea. What was my last name again? ...Oh, right. "Swan. Bella Swan."

"Bella." he smiled.

"Edward, get your ass over here! Jazz said he'd be here, and we need to save him!! Come ON!"

He looked back at whoever yelled. Edward. Wow.

"Shut it, Emmett! I'll be there in a second! I'm sure he won't die if we wait an extra minute." Then he turned back to me. "Well, as you can see, I need to go. Remember," He said with a smirk on his face again, "No more going into Abercrombie."

I nodded, and he turned and ran towards the one he called Emmett. Huh. Jasper's nickname was Jazz...eh, probably no relation at all.

My thought started to wander. Why couldn't all guys be like Edward? More importantly, why can't the guys I date be like Edward? I sighed. Like that would ever happen. I'll probably never even see him again. As if I even had a chance with a guy like him at all. I immediately dismissed the thought. I would try and make this date I had as enjoyable (gag) as possible, and I would never accomplish that if I was thinking about some random stranger from the mall. Good job.

I was going to tell Alice that I was going to go home and get ready. It took me a second to realize that I had no idea where Alice and Jasper were. They could be on the other side of the mall for all I knew. I really didn't want to walk that far, so I just did the lazy thing. I called her.

"Hello?" a perky voice said into the phone.

"Alice? I'm going to home. I seriously don't feel well. Shop for me, just like you always do, k?" LIE. I felt fine, aside from the whole mall and date thing. I just honestly wanted to leave

"Ugh. You're such a party-pooper. Whatever. See you at home then."

"See you." I hung up the phone and ran out to the parking lot to my car. Jasper came in his car, so they could still get home okay. That was good, cause I didn't want to spend another second in the mall. Ever again.

Jasper.

Where are they?! They were supposed to save me...5 minutes ago! Okay, I'm being a little impatient. With good reason. I hate shopping. I hate when Alice drags me along. I love her dearly, but I absolutely loathe shopping with every fiber of my being.

Then it hit me. They might not even find me. Joy! Alice goes in and out of stores with superhuman speed. Emmett might not even spot us if we are going at twice the legal limit while shopping. In the time it took them to look through 3 stores for us, we could make it all the way across the mall and back...twice. I could turn my phone on...but I can't reach it.

Fantastic.

It's in my back pocket, and with all the bags I'm carrying, there is no possible way I can reach it with getting into the most awkward position possible.

Then it hit me. Quite literally, this time. The wall.

Thankfully, I only hit my head, so I didn't lose my balance. But, chances are, I looked pretty stupid walking head-first into a wall.

"Jazz, are you okay?" Alice called to me.

"Yeah..." I rubbed the side of my head the hit the wall. That's gonna leave a mark. I thought as I tried (futilely) to get the swelling to go down. That's so attractive, Jasper. Smooth.

"Jazzy, it's Bella's job to be clumsy!" Alice joked.

"Well, I'm being clumsy for the both of us, since she's not here and all." Where was she, anyway? Oh, yeah, she called Alice to tell her that she was leaving. Ugh. My head injury was giving me short-term-memory-loss.

"Come on, Jazz, just one more store left, promise!!"

Yes!!

Oh no. Oh...no. I thought as I figured out what store she planned to go in.

I swear I whimpered a little as I took one step closer to Victoria's Secret. The store from hell.

Edward and Emmett are so going to get it later.

A/N mmmmk, so that was chapter one. 2 little notes:

–One, I will do 2 POVs each chapter. The first one will be important (usually it will be Edward's or Bella's) and the second one will just be random and for my enjoyment, like Jasper :)

–Two, every chapter I will recommend a song at the end, sometimes 2. I would really appreciate it if you told me what you think about the song in your review! 2 songs today!

1. 'Dark Blue' – Jack's Mannequin

2. 'Here (In Your Arms)' – Hellogoodbye

(Betcha can't guess who her dates gonna be... :)

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No, seriously, you'll never guess. I promise. Or maybe you will...I dunno :) It could be anyone. Even Bob the math teacher. Hmmm...)

teehee. Got ya thinking, didn't it?

.byee

I luvs u alllll :)

–Jazz