Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Author's note: The story you are about to read takes place a few years after Breaking Dawn. The Cullens have moved to Alaska. A hyphen signifies a paragraph break. It is written completely in Bella's POV unless stated otherwise.
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Chapter I
The car climbed steadily up a steep incline which seemed, to me at least, to be almost vertical. I was lounging across the back seat, flipping through a battered copy of Romeo and Juliet, while Edward drove and Nessie sat in the front passenger seat, bouncing excitedly and singing badly to a song on the radio.
"We're here Bells."
I sat up quickly, glancing out of the windscreen. The house, which sat nestled among tall trees, behind a lazy river, was huge. Edward manoeuvred the wide Mercedes across the wooden bridge and came to a stop on the wide gravel driveway. Alice and Esme were running between the hired moving van and the house carrying boxes and bags full of all our stuff. Nessie flew out of the car, across the drive and up the steps of the house. She was through the front door before I could tell her to take off her snow-covered shoes.
"What do you think?"
It took me a second to realise Edward was talking to me.
"It's beautiful," I breathed, my sharp eyes talking in the brickwork, the delicate, latticed bay windows, the Romanesque columns, the sloping roof. I opened the car door and felt the frost-covered gravel tickling the soles of my bare feet. I hastened up the steps to the house and found myself in a large, airy room floored with ancient oak. A lot of the furniture was already set up: the French living room set, the grand piano, the wide LED TV. Jasper and Emmett were lying on the floor in front of a small cupboard built into the wall just underneath where the TV was mounted.
"Hey," I say, approaching them silently, "what are you doing?"
Jasper rolled over so that he is on his back, looking at me, and waved a Nintendo Wii instruction booklet.
"I learned to speak fluent Anglo-Saxon in one summer but the Nintendo Wii instruction book continues to baffle me."
Emmett sat up, clutching his prized black PS3 to his chest and sighing.
"Jasper, why don't you go and get on with your knitting or something? I would get this finished faster if you weren't here."
"Thanks."
I laughed quietly as I walked away. Those two reminded me of an old married couple sometimes. I climb the stairs and wander unhurriedly along the wide, looping corridor. I see Nessie sitting on a Super-king-size bed in one of the bedrooms, grinning widely. The room is painted a delicate purple and the boxes containing all of her stuff are already sitting on the floor, but she's too delighted with her new bedroom to touch them yet.
I advance along the corridor. The sound of Rosalie's singing drifts from a closed Oak door. I see Carlisle unpacking his office supplies into an antique filing cabinet through an open door. The door at the end of the corridor contained one of my two favourite people in the world.
Our room was big and beautiful. The bed – an antique French four-poster – sat on a raised platform. Edward was unpacking our clothes into the large walk in wardrobe. I noticed a few outfits I didn't recognise.
"Alice…" I cursed under my breath.
Edward chuckled good-naturedly.
"Don't tear her throat out yet, I kind of like some of these." He holds up a girly white summer dress with gold butterflies, a neon-pink pinafore dress under a plain white t-shirt, and a long grey dancer's sweater, the kind that is usually worn atop some kind of leotard.
"Huh…" The pieces weren't the sort of thing I usually wore but I kind of liked the pink dress.
I picked up a box effortlessly and carried it to the delicate dressing table, setting out my silver-backed hairbrush set, my jewellery box, the long-fingered silver hand that held my rings. I tidied my straighteners and hairdryer into one of the drawers, leaving the other drawer free for Edward's stuff. I found my toiletry bag at the bottom of the box and threw it into the en-suite.
"School Tomorrow."
"Ugh. Don't remind me. I don't even want to contemplate repeating biology."
"Take something else," Edward suggested, folding one of his shirts crisply and smoothing it flat in a drawer, "physics? Chemistry? Extra PE?"
"Huh. Well I guess I am far more co-ordinated now."
He laughed. Before we could continue our light hearted conversation, Alice swept into the room, not bothering to knock.
"Bella! We need to get you ready for school. It's already so late."
I let out a long, exaggerated sigh. The truth was I didn't so much mind Alice playing dress-up with me now. I looked good in everything, and I was starting to like the flamboyance.
"Fine. Let me check Nessie is in bed, though, first."
Alice stepped aside obligingly and I waltzed into the corridor. I already loved the house. I always kind of felt like the newcomer in the Forks house, however much I loved it – this place was partly mine. Alice skipped along after me as I flashed along to Nessie's room. She was already dozing off, but she was lying on top of the blankets fully clothed. Carefully, I removed her shoes and tucked her under the blankets, not changing her into her pyjamas for fear of waking her. I set her alarm clock for seven am, rifled through the boxes for a school outfit and left the garments, neatly folded, on top of her dresser.
"Ok," I whispered to Alice, retreating into the corridor and shutting Nessie's door quietly behind me, "make me pretty."