As I stared out the window, watching the quickly passing objects outside, I wondered if I had ever once imagined my life would turn out like this.
I was a werewolf, driving to the grocery store, with three female vampires.
There were way too many things wrong with that sentence.
Bella was driving the Volvo, while Rosalie sat in the passenger seat checking her already perfect hair in the mirror. That left me stuck in the backseat next to Alice, who had her eyes glued shut and her pixie face all pinched up in concentration trying to "see" around my block in her visions.
It was strange, and horribly wrong, how normal this all felt to me.
Before I let myself reason why I should not be in this situation, I thought of Renesmee and I remembered why I must make this trip. For her, of course.
It was Renesmee's first birthday. However, the human friends and family attending her birthday party were under the impression that she was turning 6. Being one of the only half human - half vampires in existence had left a fair share of unexpected side effects. Her rare gift of communication was one, but her growth, mentally and physically, being the largest. In one year she had grown the size of a petite six year old child, and her mental capacity and understanding was years beyond the average adult. At first, the unknown answer of her growth rate and power had frightened us all and had been the cause of a confrontation with the Volturi. It would have evolved into a very brutal war and blood bath if Alice had not saved the day, literally, by bringing another half human - half vampire to prove to the Volturi that Renesmee was no harm. After learning that half mortal- half immortal children developed quickly and stopped aging after about six years, the Volturi were forced to reluctantly leave us in peace, despite how much they wanted Renesmee and the Cullens dead.
My hands lightly began to tremble as I recalled the memory and experienced the shear hatred I felt for every single member of Volturi. Rosalie immediately turned around to stare at my hands for several seconds, before turning back around. That was her way of "warning" me without Bella getting angry at her. Her dislike for me being a werewolf almost overcame her dislike for me personally. However, our love for Renesmee had bonded us in a way. Instead of our former intense hatred for each other, it was more of a never ending annoyance and angry bickering, that resulted in a usual scolding from Bella and the occasional scold from Renesmee.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself that now everything was perfectly fine. No matter what the Volturi did we would be prepared, and for now we were at complete peace. Nothing on this earth could harm Renesmee.
Needless to say, we all knew her birthdays as a child were limited. So, for her first birthday we all wanted to give her something she would never forget. It was a good thing that when it came to celebrations the Cullens had always preferred it that way, something nobody could forget. Oh, and it probably helped that they could have bought the continent if they desired.
Bella decided to let Alice plan the party, because we all could accept that Alice was the best in that department. However, having been to an "Alice-planned-event", I was a little worried about what to expect.
Nothing says party to some five year olds and their judgmental parents than fire throwing trapezes artists in a two story RV going to New York CIty.
Luckily Bella was on my side for this one. Even though she trusted Alice in making an unforgettable party, she had been closely watching her over the past weeks to avoid anything too outrageous. For example, Alice's first idea of renting out Disney World for the week.
But at this point, it seemed everything had turned out perfectly. Alice had managed to plan a child's party that nobody in the town of Forks, or the state of Washington for that matter, could surpass, while maintaining an appropriate age theme and budget. Well, an appropriate budget for a family of vampires. Her idea was to bring the carnival to the Cullen's backyard. The plan was to have a cobblestone path (how in the world that would be assembled was not of my concern) leading to a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a giant "bouncy house", and a full size jungle gym, with cotton candy and pretzel stands throughout the path. Each different ride or component would have one of the Cullens "running" it, and kids could go whichever direction they please, using the fake tickets Alice had ordered to get on rides. Just like a real carnival.
Today Edward, Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett and Esme (who I recently discovered has a surprising talent and love of construction and architect) would be setting everything up for the party which would be held in two days. The jungle gym and trampoline house were already assembled by the time we had left this morning, and the ferris wheel and merry-go-round were in the process of being put together. The snack stands were arriving this afternoon along with the pretend entrance booth and tickets. Throughout the day they would be creating the cobblestone path. Again, however that would be assembled was not something I planned to worry about. In the back of my mind I knew the fact that they had managed to bring actual theme park equipment to a one year olds party should have shocked me, but assuming the vampire super strength and unlimited supply of money, nothing really shocked me anymore.
But now that we were so close to the actual day, everyone was in power mode. We all had a part to play, in completing such a monstrosity of an event. Charlie was watching Renesmee today and tomorrow while her party was being put together. The boys and Esme were working on getting everything ready. Which left the girls, and me.
Alice being Alice had insisted that everything was to be done either by the best of the best, or home made by the Cullens themselves. This had included food and snacks. Alice wanted the best caterer in Seattle to make the food for Renesmee's guests. But, Bella being Bella had insisted that five year olds liked pretty much anything that wasn't green and so the food should be practical and could be made at home. After a very long argument between Alice and Bella they had decided to compromise. The snack food and lunch course could be bought and prepared by the Cullens, but they would buy it in a Seattle grocery store because according to Alice nothing in Forks was party standard. The cake would be designed and ordered specially, but Bella's compromise was that it had to come from a cake designer in Forks. Seemed like a pretty fair trade. And today while the boys and Esme did the actual labour, Alice, Rosalie and Bella would buy the food.
I originally was supposed to be helping with the cobblestone path and ride set up, considering my own super strength, but last minute something went off in my head. Not that I didn't trust Bella and the vampires undeniable intelligence for everything, but Bella had not eaten in a year and Alice hadn't ever eaten that she can remember. Never.
It didn't seem right to let them buy all the human food for the human children when they had absolutely no sense of what human children enjoyed to eat anyway. I, however, had tons of knowledge in that department and thought I could be considered sorta like a human (well as human as they could get) consultant. I had told them that I just wanted to spend some much needed time with Bella, my best friend. But truthfully I was just trying to avoid the possible disaster of three vampires handling the food for the party of my reason for existence.
I was surprised at how willing (except for Rosalie, but willing does not apply in her vocabulary when it comes to me) the vampires seemed to have me along. I knew since Bella was my best and closest friend despite the natural enemies thing, that she was only happy to have me along for company. Alice however, seemed too reeved up about the idea of a grocery store to have even me and my vision blocking self dampen her excitement. I guess people who never eat find grocery stores fascinating. Strange.
Suddenly, a low hiss interrupted my deep thoughts and I turned my head from the window. It was Alice who made the menacing sound, but we all seemed to have our eyes on Bella. Usually something like that implied a threat, and I would shift to hyper alert, defensive mode immediately. But something about Bella's face told me there wasn't any real danger. She had that expression on her face that told me that, when she was human, she would have been blushing.
"Bella, why do I see us buying bags of chips", she paused and thought for a second before continuing, "probably stale, from the local grocery store?" A laugh escaped me at the way Alice had said local. She made it sound like a word that was too dirty to say in front of parents or teachers.
Bella's eyebrows pulled together in confusion, but quickly changed to dissatisfaction. " Aw come on, how did you see that one? I literally decided, only half a minute ago!" Bella asked trying to make the mood humorous. Alice replied with a short, rumbling snarl.
Bella's nonchalant act was over and she began to plead. "Alice, I guarantee you that there is no need to buy finger foods in Seattle! Seriously, I know we had a deal but I'm a little bit more experienced with food than you are," she said quickly and guiltily. "And, I mean you guys have bought so much already, no need to add more cost to your budget", Bella pleaded before looking at Alice hopefully.
Alice only growled again.
"Really Al, I eat all the time and Forks food is just as good as any, I promise," I said softly trying to persuade her.
You knew your life was really screwed up when you had nicknames for you vampire friends.
Now, rather than a growl or an argument, Alice's bottom lip puckered just enough and her golden eyes bulged. Bella saw her face and immediately her expression was pained. "Alice..." she said said in desperation, almost a whine.
Alice's voice was heartbreaking. "We had a deal. I ordered the cake from the crappy little bakery downtown, it killed me to just walk in there you know? And now you..." she trailed off as her eye brows curled in and her chin began to quiver.
Bella was so emotionally torn she began to slow the car down. She started to say something, but glancing at Alice's face, she went silent and hung her mouth open like a fish. I saw Rosalie hiding her laughs while looking out the window, and I couldn't help but smirk. We both knew better than anyone that Alice had easily cracked classic martyr Bella. Alice noticed the atmosphere and took it as her victory. "Drive," she commanded in a sickeningly sweet voice.
Bella sighed heavily, but we all knew Alice had long since won. As the car sped up and started down the highway to Seattle, Alice wore a smug little smile and turned to look out the window. Her face was no longer pinched up in concentration, because there was no way we would be shopping at the Forks grocery store today.
I know some people are probably confused, but there will be more chapters to come.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. The idea came to me when I was in the grocery store and I squeezed a peach just a bit too hard and it bruised. I wondered how a vampire, with completely no sense of food, would manage in a grocery store.
I'm a first time writer so it's probably not very good to you experienced readers or writers :P But please my only request is if you have read this, pleas review it.
Whether you liked it, or hated it...let me know! Even little, completely irrelevant details are appreciated. That way I can make the story better, or if all of you hate it then I can just stop writing to reduce your pain ;) THANK YOU !
