Notes: Okay, I know I said I would be posting this in a few weeks, but I can't wait that long! This is my first ACTUAL story... YAY! I hope you like it! I actually meant for this to be released around Halloween, but I decided now is as good a time as ever! Hope you guys enjoy it... and:
Before you go hatin': I have my own problems, I don't need yours, too.
Chapter 1
Bella's POV:
"Come on, Bells, it'll be fun!"
I sighed, tapping my pencil against the pad of paper before me. My best friend Jacob, who seldom ever gave up on anything, was on my bed beside me, stretched out as I did some bank business. "Jake, seriously… it's not really my thing."
"How would you know? You've never even been to a haunted house!" he protested. This had been his argument for the past ten minutes. Basically, what had happened, was: he walked into my apartment in the small town of Forks, Washington, the day before Halloween and insisted that I go with him to the high school's haunted house.
I set my pencil down and faced him, resting my cheek on my fist, "It just seems kind of lame to me." Before his shocked expression could faze me, I continued, ticking things off on my fingers, "I mean: plastic weapons dipped in ketchup, men with chainsaws, rubber feet, scantily clad girls, screaming 'Help me! Help me!'"
He laughed at my impression of a dead damsel in distress. "Maybe you're right. But you have to go, if not to see little kids scream."
"Ugh!" I smacked his arm as he laughed. "You're so mean! I 'was' going to agree to go with you, but just for that, I'm not."
"Hey! I was kidding!" he exclaimed indignantly. "Bells, come on. I was 'kidding'."
I grinned, "I know. So was I…" I sighed, "Sure, I'll go with you."
"Yes! Thanks Bells!" he slung an arm around my waist and pulled me to his chest in a bear hug. "You're going to 'love' it."
"Okay, but, God help me, if you even 'smile' if I scream-"
"Sure, sure," he waved me off. "I won't. I'll protect you from the scary pedophiles."
I snorted, "Technically, considering I'm 21, rapists are what I need to worry about. Pedophiles rape CHILDREN."
He rolled his eyes, "Ohhhh, look at you, being all analytical!"
"Ohhhh, look at you, using big words."
"That hurts, Bells," he feigned his hurt, clutching at his chest.
"Deal with it; I'm not a nurse."
"Me-ow… Kitten's a little feisty today, eh?"
I hit him again, and sat back up to continue my checking crap. Sometimes, being an adult sucked.
Edward POV:
Sometimes, being an adult rocked. Emmett, Jasper, and I, along with Alice and Rosalie, were all working on the Forks High School Haunted house. Every year, they asked a student and their choice of friends from the previous year's graduating class to do it, and this year, my little sister Alice got chosen.
I graduated two years ago, with Jasper. He'd fallen in love with my sister when we had a sleep over for my birthday. And Rosalie, Alice's friend, had caught my brother Emmett's eye a few years prior, leaving me as the fifth wheel. Not that I minded, because there were no interesting girls in this area, unless you counted Jessica Stanley, the creepy chick that had stalked me throughout high school. Not my type.
Usually, the haunted house was superlame. Not this year.
And the thing that made it better: we got to… interact with the guests more. That meant, we can grab one from a group, and hold a knife (not a real one) to their throat, and say we wouldn't return them until they gave us something stupid like candy or a pen. I might have trouble staying in character.
Forks wasn't a big place, meaning we would barely have 500 guests, but every single one of them would be scared shitless, if I had anything to do with it.
Alice and Rosalie did most of the set and costume design, but Jasper, Emmett, and I -along with being their worker monkeys- came up with the ideas. We had a few other people working with us: our parents, our cousins Erina, Kate, and Eliazar. But that was it.
Jasper had a chainsaw, Emmett was a rogue zombie, Alice was a ghoul, Rose was an evil seductress (wearing an almost showy ripped dress and a whip), Kate and Erina were sewn together, Eliazar was strapped to a chair, with my parents circling him, appearing to cut him, when they were really just breaking bags of fake blood underneath his costume. Finally, my favorite part of the whole thing, I, Edward Cullen, got to steal girls (because a guy would be easier to leave) and threaten to rip their throats out with my plastic vampire fangs if I didn't get chocolate. This was my way of adding even MORE humor to the whole thing.
The school never let us go inside with the haunted house, but they made an exception once they saw our cleverly planned blueprints, which involved using only one corner of the main building. That's where I would be, hiding in a janitor's closet, waiting for my prey.
"Edward!" Alice's shrill voice cut through the empty hallway where I was on a latter, holding the box full of fake bones for Em -who was on the latter above me- to hang from the ceiling.
"Yeah, Tinkerbell?" I called back. It's true, Alice did look like some sort of demon pixie or something.
"Haha, very original," she said as she rounded the corner and stood at the base of the latter I was standing on. "I need you to get in your costume, we only have-" she checked her watch, "Six hours to finish. And I want to make sure you have enough blood."
"Alice, I have enough blood. Otherwise I would not be standing straight right now."
"Edward, don't mess with me. I'm not afraid to kick this thing over," she placed one of her little hands on one if the bottom rungs.
"Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa!" I protested, holding onto the wall for dear life. "Sorry!" She spun on her heel and trotted back down the hall. I looked up at Emmett who was chuckling at our little exchange. "You good to finish without me, bro?"
"Yeah, go before she flies back here and claws your eyes out. Maybe you'd have enough blood then." We both laughed.
"I heard that, EMMETT!"
I shook my head, and climbed back down to run after my little sister.
Bella POV:
Jake and his friends, Quill, Embry, Paul, and Sam, all climbed into my rusty old truck when I stopped by the reservation at six o'clock on the evening of the Haunted house at FHS. Quill and Embry fought over who got to sit up front with me, but it only lasted half a second before Jake climbed in beside me and Sam pushed the others in the bed. If my dad, Police Cheif Charlie, were to see us, I would be grounded for a year.
We got to the school and they jumped out, and we all went to wait in the line that was forming to go in.
It only took ten minutes to wait before we got to the ticket booth. We paid and went inside.
Honestly, all I was thinking about was the food that would be served afterwards as we started walking through the darkness of the forest behind the school. It wasn't scary at all, but as the boys said, it was better than last year… I wouldn't know, and I really didn't care.
I didn't jump when a guy pointed a chainsaw at us, or when a small ghoulish girl waltzed by, or when one guy's 'heart' got cut out by a pretty girl in a mini dress with a whip around her neck. I didn't scream when two girls were ripped apart from each other from where it looked like they'd been sewn together, or when a zombie ripped the arm off a mannequin. I was actually very bored, while those around me were terrified.
They were all shaking by the time we made it to the last part of the haunted house, that went through the unlit main hallway of the school, and I was holding Jake's hand to comfort him, for he was afraid that he'd get lost from me. With my other hand, I was texting my friend Angela Webber, who said she was sorry for me having to baby sit.
I did get a little freaked out though, when a pair of arms wrapped around me, and pulled me to the side. My hand got separated from Jake's, and my phone went flying out of my hand. I was afraid, then I realized it was just a part of the haunted house.
Then I was having to stifle my laughter, once I saw the boys' reactions to finding me missing.
"Bella!" Sam exclaimed.
They all saw me, I guess because they all got mad and started yelling at the man who was breathing down my neck to let go, and 'he was scaring me'.
"Give me something sweet, or I'll rip her throat out!" The man, who I now realized was dressed as a vampire, his 'fangs' mere inches from my throat, demanded.
"Uh, duh, duh," they all stammered in confusion and shock. I snorted in their direction, turning my head to hide the chuckle that was trying to make an appearance.
"Ah!" Jake said suddenly, his hand burrowed deep into his pocket. "How about…" he pulled out a stick if bubble gum. "This?"
"No," the vampire boy hissed, pretending to tighten his arm around me, when really all he was doing was pulling me closer… not that I minded… he… smelled good. "Not enough."
"Embry! Gummy worms!" Paul shouted.
The people who were walking behind us had stopped to watch, and a few of them who were in front of us, too. I decided to help play along, and 'tried pulling away' from the vampire. He hissed in return, his teeth now almost touching my ear.
"Don't struggle, darling," he said in a soothing tone, loud enough for everyone to hear. He wasn't holding me that tight, so I could tell he knew I was just doing it for the fun of seeing their reactions, and I could easily get away if I wanted to. He now addressed my company, "Hurry now, I'm getting impatient."
Embry was holding his ground, though I could see his knees shaking a little, "No! They're mine! I bought them! Besides, we'll get her back eventually, dead or alive."
I fake whimpered, "Gee, thanks Breesie." I mocked, using the insulting name I made for him in childhood.
"Shut up, Bella!" Embry said, rolling his eyes.
"I might be tempted to eat her whole if you don't hand them over in the next ten seconds," VB (vampire boy) taunted, gently pushing aside my hair so he could sniff at my skin. "She smells so good. It would be a shame if I missed out in a tasty little snack like this one."
Sam thumped Embry on the back of the head, earning an "Ow," and a "What was that for?" from him.
"Just give the guy the worms, dude," Sam commanded the younger boy. "We promised Billy and Charlie we'd return her safely," he cast a glance at me, "And I don't think in bloody pieces is considered safe."
I tried to stifle another laugh as Embry pulled a plastic bag full of colorful candies out of his pocket, and handed them to Sam like a child giving up their favorite toy, but it came out in a half-burst of air, only cut off by VB's hand covering my mouth.
"Give us the girl," Sam said, clutching the bag and taking a step forward.
"Give me the worms, and I will," VB retorted. He was quick with words, you could tell.
Slowly, Sam extended his hand, the one with the bag in it, and VB reached out with the hand that wasn't over my mouth to take it. Once they were in reaching distance, VB snatched the bag from Sam, and shoved me foreword, into Jake's waiting arms.
He petted my hair and hurriedly walked us on, his arms a vice grip around me. He must've took my shaking shoulders for crying, instead if laughter, because he kept saying, "Shh, Bella, you're okay, I've got you," over and over again.
I just let him go with it.
When we reached the end of the hall, which was also the end of the haunted house, I pushed away from him and doubled over laughing my brains out.
"You should've seen your faces!" I sputtered between chuckles and gasps for air. "You were like," I morphed my face into a cheap version of what they looked like.
They all rolled their eyes, claiming that I was scared and they weren't. That they were only concerned about me. Then I told them that if they weren't scared, they would've remembered that it was a haunted house and it wasn't real, and I was in no danger at all. They waved me off.
Finally, we made it to the staff parking lot, where a huge tent was set up, the scent of fresh cooked foot wafting through the open door flaps. That's when I remembered how hungry I was… and that I didn't have my phone.
"Shit," I muttered, patting all my pockets to see if I'd over looked it.
"What?" Jake asked, the only one stopping to make sure I wasn't dying.
"My phone," I sighed, giving up on trying to find it. "I think I dropped it in there…"
Just then, the last group of people came through the doors, that closed behind them with finality.
"Well, maybe vampire boy has it," Jake offered.
"Help me find him!" I commanded, standing on my tip toes to look over the heads of a passing group of people.
"Why can't you do it yourself?"
I turned to look at him, my eyebrows saying 'You're a shithead', my mouth saying, "Because I didn't see him, you idiot."
Edward POV:
Most of the night had been boring, all the same reactions. That was, until the second to last group.
That's when I saw HER. She was walking with a group of tan guys twice her size, all trembling in fright. Her hand was twined with one of theirs, her free hand clutching her phone and texting away without a care in the world. I decided on her for three reasons: 1, she was with a group of scared guys. 2, she was oblivious and indifferent. And 3, she was cute.
Yeah, I know I said before that I'd never seen an interesting girl in Forks, interesting in a good way, but this girl was. I didn't know where she'd come from, but she was different from everyone else.
I didn't care if the guy whose hand she was holding was her husband, boyfriend, brother, uncle, dad, cousin, nephew, grandson (wait, scratch that one), friend, or mere acquaintance, I wanted her.
And when I had her in my arms, and she was trying to hold in her laughter, clearly not scared, I was appalled. Appalled because girls were usually the most scared, but she was simply reveling in the reactions of her posse to her kidnapping.
And damn, she smelled good! Like… wild strawberries and citrus fruit good. Not just get hair, oh no! Her skin smelled good, and all I really wanted to do was live in that scent for the rest of eternity. I was having a hard time controlling myself as it was, then I heard one of the boys say what I assumed was her name.
Bella.
Beautiful, in Latin.
Beautiful to the ears.
Just looking at her, I knew it fit her perfectly.
Then came the sad moment when I had to let go of her, and hide in the corner until the next group came through. Before they were completely out of earshot, I heard her burst into laughter, saying, "You should've seen you'd faces!" I swear, I could still smell her scent, even when the next girl I grabbed smelled strongly of BO and cheap perfume.
When the last of the group were through the doors, I closed them, and went to collect all the bail-candy I had gotten that night. When I made it back to my closet, I noticed something on the floor just inside the door.
I bent down and picked up the pink thing. It was a phone. One of my 'victims', no doubt.
I turned it on, to see which one, and stopped as soon as I saw the lock screen photo. It was Bella's phone.
Shit! She must've dropped it when I grabbed her!
Great! Now I feel like the biggest jackass that ever lived!
I had her phone! Good god! How would I get it back to her? I didn't know where she lived or how to get a hold of her, or-
… Wait a minute… I have her phone. I can just look through her contacts and maybe find a contact number for her house… or at least that Embry kid's… or, who else did they mention. That really big guy, he said something about getting her home safely… damn! What were the names?
Brady and Carter?
No…
Brandon and Carl?
Damn! They were B and C names, right?
Billy and Charlie?
Oh, yeah! That sounds right. So, just look for-
"Edward!" Rosalie snapped in my face.
"Huh? What?" I looked up from the phone screen that I now realized had gone dark.
"Falling asleep are you?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"No, I just-" Should I tell her? Should anyone know that I have the phone? "I'm just… a little worn out. Kidnapping people is hard work."
Rose laughed, "Start getting this shit off the ceiling, they have school tomorrow."
Without even offering to help, she turned and stalked out the doors.
Bella POV:
"It's official!" I exclaimed, after asking everyone we saw if they had seen my pink phone. "My phone is nowhere to be found!"
"Maybe we could keep looking?" Paul offered. After they'd finished with their five plates of food each, the rest of the boys had joined us in the search for my phone.
"No, Paul. It's late… We have to get Bella home," Jake, who was very tired, said. "Besides, if someone didfind it, they might be smart enough to call a number in it to find Bella and return it."
"And maybe they are a total dickhead and are re-gifting it to their sister this Christmas!" I collapsed in the front seat if my truck.
"Damn, Bells, you must be really pissed. You actuallyswore!" Quill joked, trying to lighten the mood.
I sat up and glared at him, "Shut the hell up, Quill."
"Geez, PMS much?" Embry muttered.
I rolled my eyes with a scowl, then shoved the key in the ignition. "Just get in the car."
All of them -besides Jake- were smart enough to take the hint that I wasn't up for shit, and hopped in the bed of the truck again.
When I dropped them off at the reservation, Jake stayed in the cab with me.
I rested my head against the back of the seat and sighed in frustration. "I'm screwed."
"No you're not, Bella. It's just a phone."
"No it's not," I turned on him. "If my dad finds out I lost this phone, I'm never getting a new one."
"Bells, you graduated last year. Don't you think it's time to move out of your dads house and… I don't know, pay your own phone bills?"
"You know I've tried, Jacob!" I said, running a hand through my hair in annoyance. "But I can't pay for college, and unless I start working as a prostitute, I'm not going to find a decent enough job to pay for anything. And before you ask, no, I am not going back to work at Newtons'."
"I don't know, I think you could handle a prostitute job. You've got the boobs for it, and I'dpay for you, at least," he joked.
I smiled and hit him on the arm, "Haha very funny. And you know I couldn't do that."
"And why is that?"
I felt my cheeks warm as I stuttered, "Well, you know. I haven't, done… that." I gestured vaguely to my genitals.
He raised his eyebrows, "What? You? You haven't-"
I shook my head, biting my lip and looking away.
"Oh… I always thought you had a boyfriend in Arizona, that you… ya know." I shook my head, and he shrugged, "Or maybe I thought you and Mike Newton-"
"Ew, gross Jake. Get out of my truck."
He laughed, "Hey, you two did work the same shifts. I thought maybe you two had a few quick post-closing counter romps or something."
I laughed, pushing him out of the open door. "Goodbye Jacob."
"Bye Bella."
I know, I know! It's really short! But it's funny, and the foundation for the rest of the story... so... live with it! Review, Favorite, do WHATEVER! (I probably won't be posting on a regular basis, but if you guys get me to so many reviews, I'll speed it up a little)