((Bella's Perspective))
I was over at the Cullens' on Friday, carving pumpkins with the vampire family. Well, Emmett, Alice, Esme, Carlisle and I were carving. Jasper and Edward were stuck with gutting the pumpkins (the Cullens drew straws every year to chose the gutters- apparently, Alice still hadn't drawn the shortest straw, for obvious reasons). Rosalie was tampering with a decorative hearse to make the horn honk when the motion trugger went off... Edward played and recorded the Adam's Family theme on the piano; Rose had set it as the car horn.
My pumpkin was short and squat, a pretty reddish-orange that reminded me of the flame-colored leaves outside. Forks in the fall was beautiful, a lot of the green stuff went away or changed colors and everything looked festive. 'Jack' blended right in with the atmosphere, especially here at the Cullens'. Emmet and Alice seemed to be having entirely too much fun with this, but I guess it was one of those times where they could hide in plain sight.
Jack had a very cute little bat carved into him, silhouetted against a full moon. It looked juvenile next to Esme's intricate leaf pattern, or Carlisle's dragon, or even Emmett's vampire face, but I liked Jack the way he was, and I was very proud of myself- I didn't cut myself on the carving knife this year! Granted, Alice had bought a safety carving kit just for me, and Edward told me, in no uncertain terms, I was not allowed anywhere near the real carving knives my friends were using... I turned and carried Jack out to the porch, stopping to admire the view in the growing twilight. I whirled around once, for the fun of it, before nigh prancing back into the house.
I watched Esme chisel away at the thick outer layer of the pumpkin, leaving about a half inch of the flesh in place. I'd asked her about this earlier, Carlisle had taught her that trick years ago and she'd only just perfected it. When she lit the candle behind it, there would be light orange and yellow leaves glowing in the dark.
I made sure I took the long way around Esme so my klutziness didn't destroy my work. I had almost made it back to my seat when I slipped on pumpkin guts. Edward caught me before I fell, and asked me, "Are you alright, Bella?"
I nodded absently; seeing Edward's face up close reminded me of Halloween colors... Red-gold hair and glowing gold eyes, and a wide, crooked grin; why, my beloved monster could be a Jack O' Lantern! The thought made me giggle, and Edward's confused look just made me laugh harder For the thousandth time I was glad that Edward couldn't read my mind. This passed quickly when Emmett started asking what I was laughing at.
Alice, seeing what I was about to say, grinned even as I started mumbling my ridiculous thought. Edward blinked in suprise and Emmett full out laughed; Carlisle, Esme, and Jasper were smiling.
Emmett let out another boom of laughter and told us, "Eddie has a new nickname! Jack O' Cullen!"
Jasper suprised me by saying, "If Edward's new name is Jack, Bella's is Bellfry."
"What?" Jasper's comment clicked just before Edward rolled his eyes and answered my question.
"Bellfry because you're batty."
Oro: (shifts guiltily) I won't tell Quill if you don't! This story just begged to be written, it took all of fifteen minutes... I still don't own Twilight or its characters, if you don't mind, I'm going to sneak back to TBO now...