Hey! This is my first fic for either of these fandoms.
Just so you guys know, this is set after new Moon, and just after the end of season 2 of Pretty Little liars.
Bella still moved to Phoenix, but she lived in Rosewood for years before that in this timeline.
Happy reading!
Bella lifted her tray, holding only a can of soda, an apple and a chocolate chip cookie, and made her way hastily to the Cullen table. Emmett appeared to be playing a game on his phone, knowing him and his craving for new crazes; it was probably the new update of Temple Run. To his left, sat his blonde bombshell of a wife, leafing through her new copy of Mechanics Weekly; strange how someone so typical can break a stereotype so much. To her surprise, Alice and Jasper were both missing. Taking her usual seat next to Edward, she melted into his side as he draped his arm over her shoulder.
"I really wish you'd eat more." Edward's musical voice drifted to Bella's ear.
"I eat fine, Edward. When you start eating this cafeteria mush and keep it down, then start lecturing me." The 18 year old's genuine disgust for the school's food was clearly showing, at which Edward could only chuckle at.
"No lecturing, no lecturing, just concern for your well-being. How was class?"
"It was meh. Same as always. Where have Alice and Jasper disappeared to?"
Rosalie found herself answering Bella's question without thought. She found herself softening towards the human since the incident with the Volturi.
"Apparently she had to hit a sale at Forever 21 before other students get wind of it, and of course, where there's a major sale, Jasper's two arms are needed to carry all of her crap."
Bella smirked at the thought of poor Jasper being carted around the Mall. No doubt Alice would find an excuse to venture into other stores too.
On the whole, the family had never been better. Her biggest concerns with the Cullens had been Rosalie and Jasper. Alice had taken to her even before Edward and Emmett would have kept her around simply to catch her in her clumsy moments. Carlisle and Esme had always just appreciated that Edward wasn't alone anymore, that he was happier since coming to Forks. Rosalie though, hadn't trusted her, not that Bella blamed her. If a stranger suddenly got involved with her vampire family and ran the risk of exposing them, she'd be defensive too. If anything, she respected Rosalie for it. Luckily, they were on good terms now. Bella suspected that the fact that she had dropped everything to go sprinting, literally, to her brother's aid in Italy had helped. She still needed to speak to Jasper about her birthday the previous year though. The poor guy still blames himself for all the drama, and the whole almost-giving-in-to-his-natural-desires-and-killin g-Bella thing. It couldn't be easy being the only member of the family to struggle so much with the other side of him. The only problem was, she didn't know how to; the last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable.
Stuck in her thoughts, she didn't notice the other three giving her questioning looks. Emmett's energetic voice pulled her back to the surroundings.
"What's got ya thinking so hard there, Bells?"
Bella sighed dramatically, "Just that something must be wrong with Alice?"
She watched with amusement as the trio's faces morphed into a combination of confusion and worry.
"Wait, what's wrong with Alice?"
"Well if she put you in that shirt, Em, she's obviously off her game."
Silence took over the table for a few seconds while Bella's statement sunk in, until two booming laughs, one from her blonde friend, and the other from her boyfriend, who she could feel shaking slightly against her, took over. Once again she smirked at Emmett's deadpan facial expression in front of her, and she faked a glance down at her watch.
"Oh, look at that. Time for class!"
She and Edward stood and moved towards the door, where Bella dropped off her tray on top of the bin. She took Edward's hand and tugged him out the door behind her.
"Didn't you know that Alice only plays dress up with you and Jasper?"
"Oh, I knew. I just couldn't pass an opportunity to make him squirm."
Humor thick in Bella's voice, Edward said one simple thing as they approached Bella's locker.
"That's my girl."
As Edward's Volvo pulled into the Cullen driveway, Bella spotted Alice's canary yellow Porsche. A random thought occurred to her as she got out and headed towards the door, behind the rest of the family, and brought a grumbled remark from her.
"She better not have bought me more clothes."
From behind her, a snigger was heard.
"Don't get your hopes up, kid."
She strolled on into the living area and stopped, holding her forearms out to the sides in an expression of disbelief.
"Alice! Did you buy out the entire store?!"
Alice paused momentarily in her folding, obviously having gotten overexcited when she got home, to reply,
"That's rhetorical, right?"
"For anyone else it would be. You know I'm not playing Barbie with you, don't you?"
Having heard the quick exchange, Alice's siblings filtered in to the room; these arguments were always something to see. From the kitchen, Esme could be heard shouting a warning not to break anything. The vampire members of the family seemed to think wrestling would solve anything, which ended up in nothing but two squirming sort-of-teenagers being yelled at next to broken furniture. Even though nobody would dare to wrestle with Bella though, things just seemed to break when in the same vicinity.
"No! Please! Look what I got you! They had this gorgeous little minidress, and look in that bag! Isn't that the cutest sweater your closet would have the privilege of holding?"
"Alice, we talked about this!"
"But Bella, why wo-"
"Alice. What did we agree on the last time this happened?"
Alice plunked herself down on the sofa, evidently on top of a couple of bags still full of clothes, and folded her arms. The others still were watching on in delight, particularly Jasper who was already in trouble for tricking his wife into coming home earlier than planned. At least the heat was off him for now.
"Alice. What did we say?"
With a resigned sigh, and sudden slouch in posture, the pixie – like girl gave up.
"That I can't tell you what to wear."
"What else?"
"That I have to stick to Carlisle and Esme's allowance'
Bella was glad this could be over before any yelling started. That in itself could cause a simple argument to drag on into a week-long stalemate at times.
"Good. Anything else?"
"That I can't replace the clothes in your closet without telling you first."
The taller girl stood dumfounded at this, but counted to 5 in her head before continuing to speak in a dangerously slow voice.
"I didn't say that. When did you replace my clothes?"
To be fair, Alice at least had the decency to look somewhat guilty as she explained.
"Well they were pretty old clothes, but I gave them to Goodwill! I'm sure people will appreciated those big knitted sweaters you had in the back, behind your jeans."
"My Grandmother made those! Alice!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't know! I won't do it again, I swear!"
Rosalie stood between the two smaller girls in the hopes of bringing a truce, despite the fact that Bella's argument clearly trumped Alice's in this case, as far as she was concerned.
"Why don't we all get out of the house for a bit, yeah? We could get hiking equipment from the Newton's store for our hunting trips."
Murmurs of agreement came from throughout the room. Edward waited until everyone had left the room before taking Bella's hands and kissing her on the forehead. They exchanged comforting smiles and made their way outside.
Bella spent most of the ride into the town, watching the scenery pass by. When she first arrived in Forks she hated the idea of it. Having spent most of her life in cities of some sort, she had felt isolated from the rest of the world. Instead of lights everywhere, and traffic noise at any given time, all that could be found here was green land and quiet. She had come to love it though. The thought of going back to over populated streets and faces she didn't know was no longer appealing. She found that the privacy and calmness that Forks gave was almost freeing. The Cullens had had a lot to do with it too. She smiled at the image of the family of vampires going camping. The only reason they even bought equipment was to appear more human to other people.
She didn't really know what went on during the trips they took. Nobody would tell her; that was probably Edward's doing. She didn't push though; she knew it was hard enough on them already, especially with everything they had done to protect her. It would almost seem like a waste not to stay human, not that that would stop her.
She was jogged from her thoughts, as the sight of Mike Newton's family camping store came into view. One of the best things about Forks was that everything was no more than a 5-minute drive or so. At least, she wouldn't get a muscle cramp while driving here. Seconds later she found herself hearing a bell ring above her head as she entered, smiling brightly in greeting to the cashier, who she vaguely recognized at Mrs Newton.
"Okay, so the tents are towards the back. How many do we need?" Rosalie appeared to have taken charge, and headed straight towards what she wanted. Jasper, Alice and Edward headed in another direction, while Bella and Emmett followed the tall blonde.
"Maybe 2?"
"Really Em? Just 2?"
"Bells, we always have a guys tent and a girls tent.'
The human girl was about to retort with another joke, convinced she was on a roll today; it was obviously a story for the humans around them since Emmett never passed up a chance to have 'alone time' with his wife, when she tripped on a keychain that someone had knocked over. She quickly grabbed a shelf that was secured to the wall to steady herself. Emmett's bellowing laugh could be heard all over the store, drawing other customer's attention to them; the guy's like a foghorn. No doubt this would bring on the clumsy jokes now, not that she really minded. It made her feel like part of the family.
Bella rolled her eyes and glanced out the window behind Emmett's head and noticed a girl that looked very familiar walking along the street opposite the store. She was somewhat short in height, with long mahogany shaded hair, and curled to just below her shoulders. She was slightly baby – faced, although appeared to be at least the age of a high school-er, and was wearing a pair of dark wash denim jeans with one of her signature lace dresses and matching sweater ensembles; all black, with the exception of her brown ankle boots. Black. How fitting of her.
The laugh died off Bella's face and was replaced with a washed out look of shock and horror. The two beside her noticed and stopped their light teasing.
"Sweetie, are you alright?"
Ignoring her concerned friend, Bella suddenly ran from her position from the back of the store to the door, almost tripping again on the way. She flung the door open, unaware of the bell ringing loudly and tried to catch the other girl, sprinting as if someone's life depended on it. She understood how people could 'see red" and refer to a 'bucket of cold water' being thrown over them, although usually they don't go hand in hand. Both were feelings she'd experienced far too often, the last thing she wanted was to have to feel it in her new home.
She heard a car horn blaring behind her, having had to break suddenly to avoid hitting her. Reaching the pavement opposite the store she had previously been trying to drag Alice from, she failed to see the Cullens following behind her. In other circumstances she would have found the fact that that she was 'outrunning' them laughable, but then again, they had to make it believable to the other Forks residents floating around the town. When the girl approached the end of the street and began to head left around the corner, Bella called out to her.
"Mona!"
She could have sworn that she saw the girl tense at hearing her name, and turned the corner quicker than before. This spurred Bella on, and she found herself running faster. No longer simply calling her, she screamed, feeling the adrenaline build within her.
"Mona!"
As she turned the corner, expecting to find the girl she had known from so long ago, she came to an abrupt stop. She was faced with a huge crowd outside the city hall, protesting something or other. The disbelief of the situation hit her as she stood unseeing to the Cullens joining her. Adrenaline still pumping, she could feel tears prickle at her eyes as the disappointment and fear set in.
"What the hell were you thinking? You almost got hit by a car!" Rosalie.
"You didn't even give me a chance to see anything, Bella!" Alice.
"Bells, really, you're a klutz and a danger magnet already. The last thing you need is to add a car accident to your list." Emmett.
"Bella. Love, what was that? Are you alright?" Oh God. Edward. What would she tell him?
Bella could feel Edward take his place in front of her, running his hands over her arms and looking her up and down, in a desperate attempt to ensure she was okay. He cupped her face and stepped closer. "Look at me, please."
She made eye contact with him and opened her mouth to explain, before realizing that now was not the time and closed it again. He could see the unshed tears being pushed away and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her as close as she could get, without hurting her, of course. Bella slowly slid her hands across his sides and up his back, almost clinging to him. As they stood in a tight embrace, the delicate girl rested her cheek against her Edward's chest, while their four siblings watched on with apprehension.
He gently rocked her from side to side, in barely seeable motions, and did what he could to reassure her, hoping it was just enough to calm her until they were out of the public eye.
"It's okay. Whatever happened is over now. I love you, we're here."
While Bella felt safe in his arms and content with his words, and she knew Jasper was helping her too, her mind couldn't help but wonder; if Mona was in Forks, was it truly over?
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