Chapter 1

It was almost Christmas. Forks had swapped its constant rain for constant snow and I was going to experience my first white Christmas. It never snowed in Phoenix. No snowstorms at all, just dust storms and those were horrible, so I was pretty excited. The sight out my window was beautiful; a real winter wonderland.

However there was one thing I was dreading about the snow – going outside. With my luck I was sure to slip and slide all over the snow and eventually fall down and break something. Hopefully not. Luckily for me, Charlie knew me well and had already put snow chains on the wheels of truck. They would only be helpful, although, if Edward or any of the other Cullens let me drive anywhere myself and that really didn't seem very likely.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of a car pulling into our driveway. A quick glance out my window revealed that the car was indeed the silver Volvo I had been awaiting and I grabbed my bag from the floor and opened the front door to see Edward already standing on my porch.

He was a comical sight; someone who didn't feel cold at all wrapped up in 2 layers plus a fluffy parka. It was all for appearances of course but still funny. He immediately reached forward and enveloped me in his arms which were uncharacteristically…squishy. I laughed and he untangled our arms just enough so that he could see my face.

"What's so funny, love?" he asked. I laughed even harder at the confused and extremely frustrated look on his face. That was one thing he never got over – not being able to read my thoughts.

I replied in between giggles "You're squishy and warm." He chuckled as he saw the humour in it too. His normally cold, hard vampire had been reduced to warm and squishy and almost human like because of a few layers of fabric. Really thick layers of fabric, mind you.

Wrapping his arm around my waist he guided us towards his car. He opened the passenger side door for me, then made sure no one was watching before darting over to the driver's side.

As he backed out of my driveway I pressed play on the CD player. The lively tune of Jingle Bells started to play. However there was something wrong with the lyrics. I'm pretty sure that "oh what fun it is to hunt in a snow covered forest today" was not part of the original lyrics. Curious, I ejected the disc to discover a homemade CD of Christmas carols entitled 'Vampstmas – courtesy of Emmett Cullen'. Even more disturbingly there was a little smiley face drawn on, only there were two little triangles pointing out of the smouth which were undoubtedly vampire fangs. Edward leaned over to read the writing on the disc and growled. I put the disc aside not wanting to hear what other traditional Christmas carols Emmett had butchered.

By this time we were pulling into the parking lot of Forks High School. I sighed not very eager to start another day at school. My vampire boyfriend, who had been through high school at least 9 times now smiled at me, knowing exactly what I was feeling. I gathered my resolve and stepped out of the car as he did the same just as the bell rang. Edward walked me to my first period class, English and poked his head in the door and glared at Alice before making his way to his class. Why was he glaring at Alice, what was the little devil planning?

Turns out, Edward was right to glare. Alice and I spent the lesson whispering about her plans for this weekend. Alice had snuck into my house yesterday while Edward and I were out and seen my Christmas shopping or lack thereof and decided to take me on a Christmas shopping spree.

I had three problems with said shopping spree. One: this shopping spree was in Seattle. Without even asking she had already called Charlie and gained his permission for me to spend the entire day in Seattle with her tomorrow. Two: to get as much possible shopping time she was going to wake me up at the ungodly hour of 4:30. Three: I hated shopping.

Despite all my protests she would not budge and I knew there was no point trying to stop her. Alice did what Alice wanted and everyone else did what Alice wanted, too. This shopping trip would be just Alice and I and so there was nobody to calm her down and make her take breaks.

GREAT. I sighed; this was going to be a wonderful weekend. Oh well, I would at least get some Christmas shopping done. I still had no presents for any of the Cullens. Charlie and Renee had been easy – a new fishing rod for Charlie and a yoga mat to help along Renee's new yoga craze. Edward was the hardest to buy for out of everyone. I had no idea what I was going to get him.

Soon class was over even though I had no idea what had been said. I had spent the entire lesson brainstorming ideas of what to get each of the Cullens. The rest of the day went in the same manner and by the end of the day I had thought of a gift for everyone but Edward.

I guess his gift would just have to be a spontaneous 'I saw it in the window and loved it' gift. On the way home Edward played a Debussy CD he had had to run home to get. When Emmett had seen Edward running towards home during lunch he had burst into hysterics drawing the attention of the entire school cafeteria, which caused Rosalie to slap him over the head

Sitting at the kitchen table Edward was pulled my biology textbook out of my bag as I got a drink and something to eat. Mr Banner had suggested that he would be giving us a quiz tomorrow on the entire year's work (in a way a practice yearly exam). Using his handy mind reading powers Edward had informed me that the quiz was not an empty threat.

Having been through school multiple times and having acquired 2 medical degrees, he was quite confident he could pass the quiz. I, on the other hand, was going through high school for the first time and I didn't understand much of biology. Edward could be very distracting to sit next to, especially when he kept passing me notes.

When my sandwich was ready I took it to the dining table where Edward was already waiting with my biology textbook open. As I ate, he explained. It's amazing what you can learn in one hour of study as compared to months of class.

He was explaining the placement of human ear muscles when he suddenly stopped and a mischievous grin overtook his face. That was odd. Why had he stopped and what was that grin for? However that was all soon explained when he asked "What are your thoughts on getting revenge?"

I replied in the best way I possibly could "Revenge is a dish best served cold." He laughed and started to explain his idea. It was pure genius. Emmett would never know what hit him. Muhahahaha.

A few hours later we were at the grocery store. "Why are we here? I thought we were going to your house?" I asked as we pulled up.

He simply smiled and reached for my hand as we walked into the store and steered us into the frozen section. "Which ice-cream tastes the worst?" he asked.

"Why? Don't you generally buy things that taste nice?" I was confused.

"This isn't for us. It's for Emmett."

"But they'll all taste just as horrible to him."

"I know. I just like the sentiment."

I smiled. "Alright then. All ice-cream tastes good but the one I love least out of them would have to be…." I trailed off thinking, "mint chocolate. For some reason I just don't like mint in chocolate, let alone chocolate ice cream."

He pulled three tubs of mint ice cream off the shelves and then guided me towards the aisle containing party thing. He stopped in front of the balloons and looked up and down muttering to himself. Most of what he was saying was indistinguishable but I was pretty sure I heard something about water balloons, so I dragged him a few steps up the aisle and pulled a packet of water balloons off the hook. As I handed the packet to him he looked up and said "I think we're going to need a few more packets of these."

Back at my house Edward placed the tub of ice cream in the microwave and set the timer for a minute. I looked at him oddly as he searched around in the cupboards and drawers.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"A funnel." Came his reply from inside a cupboard.

"Why?"

"To pour the ice cream into the water balloons."

He finally pulled his head out of the cupboard and turned to look at me, holding up a funnel in triumph. Right at that moment the microwave beeped and I retrieved the ice cream and set it down on the counter.

As he was pouring the ice cream into some water balloons a thought came to me. "Won't he smell the ice cream and run?"

He smiled, a somewhat evil smile – smile that told me that whatever he was thinking was good. "Yes he would and that's why we need to recruit a few helpers."

Just then there was a knock at the door. I looked at the clock. It was only 5, Charlie was never home this early. As I headed to the door I frantically motioned at Edward to hide the ice cream and water balloons but he kept pouring, perfectly at ease. When I opened the door I realised why. Charlie had not come home early, Rose and Alice had decided to pay a visit.

Skipping through the door Alice laughed as she watched her brother prepare our prank. Rose followed her and gracefully sat down at the kitchen table. "I had a vision dear brother, and so we rushed over here as fast as we could." Alice almost sang.

"Yeah, when she says as fast as we could she literally means as fast as we could. One minute I was watching TV then next she had grabbed my arm and was dragging me out the door!" Rose complained and crossed her arms across her chest, "She didn't even tell me why we were coming here. So tell me dear brother of mine, what are you doing that has Alice so excited?"

Edward laughed "I have always wondered how something so small could be so annoying." Alice just stuck out her tongue in his direction and almost pushed him aside and started pouring the ice cream herself. He sighed and sat down at the table opposite Rose and explained our plan and her vital role in it.

Later that afternoon Alice, Rose, Edward and I headed over to the Cullen house (or should I say mansion – stupid super rich vampires) in two cars. Rose in the first car and the rest of us following a few miles behind.

A gleeful look came over Edward's face and I knew Rose had pulled into their garage and as usual Emmett bounded out to meet her. As they kissed (Emmett sufficiently distracted), we pulled up to the house and stealthily slid out of the car. I could be very graceful when I set my mind to it…sometimes. Grabbing some ice cream bombs out of the back seat Alice passed them to Edward and I.

Hearing us Rose smiled and tried to distract Emmett even more, pulling away from him as we were about a meter away. Suddenly letting go of him she darted over to our side and grabbed a handful of ice cream balloons too. Confused Emmett turned around but before he could see us and run 4 projectiles were already hurtling his way.

They smacked him in the face just as he turned to face us. We all burst into laughter as Emmett wiped the ice cream off his face and smelled it trying to identify it. Ever the masochist, he licked some when he could not identify the smell. He gagged as he tasted the ice cream and realised what it was.

"Ice cream!" he bellowed. We threw a few more at him before turning tail and running. Alice, Edward and Rose were throwing some at him over their backs. I was on Edward's back which gave me just the view I needed to successfully target the angry vampire chasing after us. "You'll never get away with this he screamed. As we ran out the front door we ran into Carlisle and Charlie who had been walking in the door. Ooops.