A/N- Here's another edited chapter:) I changed Bella's age because it was too hard for me to write a story when she was only ten.
Discovered
Chapter 2 Revealed
Alice and I were standing outside of Bella's house listening to her talk to Charlie excitedly about her party. And me. Bella was excited to see me again. Alice walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell, causing Bella to shriek excitedly followed by Charlie saying that she should get the door. I joined Alice on the little porch when I heard Bella behind the door, trying to unlock the deadbolt, but failing in her excitement. When she finally got it, the door swung open to reveal Bella in a dark blue party dress. A white ribbon tied around the waist of the dress and the skirt was light and flowed past her small hips like water, and as my eyes followed the flow of the skirt I looked down at Bella's feet and noticed the blue converse. I couldn't stifle my smile; she looked beautiful.
"Edward!" Bella squealed as she ran full force into me and latched her arms around my neck. I had to wonder if that had hurt her.
"Hello Bella. It's very nice to see you again. Shall we go in and help your dad set up for the party?"
"Yes, but first I want to show you around?" She asked, turning her face up toward me as her arms were still wrapped around me. Her head came up to my chest.
"Ok." I smiled, happy to be with her again, finally. I would happily do whatever she wanted to. It was her birthday after all. I moved to step inside with Bella when I was jolted out of my thoughts by a rather obvious cough. I turned to see Alice looking quite amused.
'Forgot about me, Edward?' she thought, raising an eyebrow and turning her smile on Bella.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Hello, I'm Bella and you're… Alice. Please come in." Bella said politely, almost warily. Alice's smile widened and she was hugging Bella before she could blink.
"Hi, Bella, I'm so glad to meet you. My brother couldn't stop talking about you when we got home from the mall yesterday. I couldn't help but get excited to meet you. I hear you're turning thirteen. We just turned fifteen a few months ago. Happy Birthday." Alice babbled, finally letting go of Bella when I put my hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, thanks." Bella replied, looking more relieved after Alice's obvious excitement to meet her. Bella turned to hide her blushing cheeks and led us to the living room where Charlie pushed the furniture toward the walls and was now blowing up blue and white balloons.
"Daddy, Edward and Alice are here." Bella said to her father.
"Oh, good. I could use some help."
"Dad, can I show them my room first?" Bella asked Charlie.
"Sure Bell, just don't take too long. I need some help in here."
"Oh, I'll stay and help. I love decorating!" Alice chirped before swiping a hand full of balloons from the coffee table and sitting on the couch next to Mr. Swan. "Do you have any streamers?" Alice asked, waving us toward the stairs. 'Hurry, before he realizes he's letting his little girl go up to her room alone with a teenage boy.' Alice giggled in her mind, continuing her one sided conversation about party decorations with Charlie.
"Ok. Which way to your room?" I asked Bella. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the stairs in reply. My hand tingled under her warm fingers. I barely noticed we were even moving until we stopped at a door and I could smell Bella's scent stronger than ever. It was a sweet smell; almost floral, and with the slightest trace of honey. It smelled like the warm honey-orange tea that my mother used to drink when I was just a child, I realized.
I inspected the door with a pink sign hung on the outside that had a chalk board on it. On the board in swirling, looped cursive was Bella's name. Bella noticed me looking at it.
"My mom gave me that for my birthday when I turned six. She sent it in the mail, all the way from Arizona. Isn't it pretty?"
"Yes," I said, turning to admire her blush, but kept the unsaid, 'but not as pretty as you Bella.' confined to my thoughts. Curiously, Bella's blush deepened and a fresh waft of her scent bloomed around us as her cheeks flushed a light pink.
Bella turned and quickly opened the door, as I smiled at her obvious embarrassment. Bella gestured around her room and sighed.
"Well, this is it." Bella turned back to me with a shy smile. I finally took my eyes off of her and looked around.
I was surprised at what I saw. Her room was not the collection of children's things I thought it would be. The room seemed almost that of a mature, young adult. She had a beautiful full sized bed, wrapped in a warm purple comforter. There was a small desk with a computer and writing tablet sitting atop it. Under the small window that overlooked her front yard, sat a bookshelf that was filled with books. Some looked to be for young adults and others were not. I saw Pride and Prejudice, among many other Jane Austin classics. Unusual...
I noticed also that she had a small wooden chest at the foot of her bed, atop of which was the doll I had bought for her yesterday. There were paintings on the wall of the views of the night sky from some point in the forest. They were brilliant and detailed. I looked at the corner of the paintings and saw a small set of initials in fine strokes of gold. All four paintings had the same initials- IMS. I think I noticed a painting of a man in rowboat fishing on a lake with the same initials above the fireplace downstairs. I couldn't help but wonder where Charlie had bought them. They were all so beautiful.
"Do you like them? I could make you one," Bella said from her seat at the foot of her bed, taking me off guard. She cannot be serious. These are exquisite paintings, even better that some of those in the Louvre in Paris.
"You made these Bella? They're wonderful. How did you learn to paint like this?"
"Practice. I love to paint from the forest, and when the sky is clear for any amount of time, I like to paint that. Most people don't believe me when I tell them I painted them. It's just one of the many exceptional skills I've acquired." She said the last very softly. I knew I wasn't supposed to hear. She is so perplexing.
Bella hopped off her mattress and focused her attention on the chest at the end of her bed. She picked up the doll and took it's place on the trunk. I walked over to the bed and sat next to her.
"Did you decide on a name for her yet?" I said, changing the subject, while I occupied my hands with the sleeve of her doll's dress. Bella sat thinking. I started thinking how the doll kind of looked like Alice with its short dark hair, strait and flared out around her small porcelain face. The doll's face also reminded me of Rose's perfectly proportional, strait features.
"Alice Rose" Bella said quietly. I looked at her startled but snapped out of it when my phone rang. I looked down at the caller I.D.- Alice.
"Hello."
"That is so sweet Edward! You got her to name her doll after us." I could practically see her jumping up and down. Downstairs, Charlie's thoughts confirmed my assumption. Charlie smiled at her exuberance. I shook my head.
"No, I didn't." I said, then in vampire speed so Bella wouldn't catch it, "I need to talk to Carlisle as soon as I get home," before continuing in a normal speed, "We'll be down in a minute."
"Yes you will." Alice said before I shut the phone. Bella was silent, sitting with the doll in her lap.
"Why did you name it that, Bella?" I asked cautiously. How had she named it after the two people I was just thinking of? Did she know I have two sisters? Maybe Charlie has met Rose while working with my dad? Oh what I would give to see into this girl's mind.
"Those are your sisters' names." Bella said, still looking down at her doll.
"Bella, did Charlie tell you? I mean your dad. Did your dad tell you about them?"
"No." Bella looked up and into my eyes. We didn't move for at least two minutes. I was running through other possibilities in my mind. I have no idea what she was thinking and it bothered me to no end.
"Why can't you hear me?"
"I can, Bella."
"No. I mean hear me." Her eyes locked with mine. Does she know? How?
"Yes… I know that you can do what I do. But you do it better. I only hear people that I am focusing on really hard."
Bella? Are you serious? I thought incredulously in my head.
"Yes. I can hear you Edward. Please don't be mad. I usually don't let anyone know. Charlie doesn't know either. I used to answer to his thought on accident. I don't know why, but Charlie doesn't think anything of it. He just thinks we have a strong parent-child bond, or something. I pay more attention now and I make sure he said it out loud before I say anything back. I just told you because you were like me. Kind of. You're still different, but I won't pry. I know that people need their privacy."
I sat stunned. She truly was the most interesting creature, but how had I not known.
"Edward, please say something." Bella pleaded before I could process everything. And with my mind, that's saying something. "I shouldn't have told you. I thought I could tell you and we would be friends, because I've never met anyone like me and it's kind of hard to be so different and make friends, and since we are both different I thought... I wouldn't be so alone anymore." Bella said, hastening as uncertainty rose in her.
"Bella, of course we can be friends. I was just a little stunned since I've never met anyone else who could do this either." Especially a human. I thought, and I instantly regretted it.
"Edward? Don't worry. I knew you were even more different than I am. I am not scared of you. I don't know… what… you are and you don't have to tell me if you don't want. I can try not to listen to your thoughts if you want me to." She gasped quickly, refilling her empty lungs.
"Um, that would be a good idea. But," I guess I'll tell you now so you can decide if you want to be my friend still, because I would love nothing more than to be your friend. "Bella, I am a vampire."
Downstairs I heard Alice gasp. Charlie asked her what was wrong, and she replied with 'Nothing' before quickly saying to me in her most rapid speech, 'Edward, are you sure you know what you're doing?' I ignored her.
"Is that why you keep thinking of my 'scent' and you can hear my heart beating?" Bella asked me, only sounding curious.
"Yes." That was not the reaction I was expecting. I at least thought her first question would be 'What do you eat?' But here she is smiling at me, not running away.
"That's my second question, but I'm sure I already got my answer since you were hunting for elk in my back forest. I heard your thoughts about hunting and at first I thought you meant with a gun. Then you bit it and I knew you were… different. Now a lot of your earlier thoughts make more sense."
I knew she'd figure it out sooner or later. I had no idea I had to guard my thoughts around her. It's a wonder that I never actually thought the word to myself at all.
"And I wouldn't run away from you. Why would I, when I finally found someone who is more of a freak than me?" Bella said, laughing.
"Bella, you are not a freak. Other than the fact that you can read minds, and for some unexplainable reason I cannot read yours, you are perfectly normal."
"Oh Edward. You know so little about me. I have no friends at school because I am too a freak. Everyone who is coming to my party is from the Quileute reservation because I grew up going there with my dad to his friend Billy's house. His son Jacob is the only friend I ever made on my own because I met him when we were both just babies. All of my other friends are from Jake because he introduced me to all of his friends. I seriously can't make friends."
'Oh, that poor girl. Edward, tell her I'm her friend too! In fact, we'll be best friends.' I heard Alice butt in from downstairs. Again, I ignored her.
"Of course you can Bella. You made friends with me."
"Yes, but you are a freak too." She said with a dim grin. "And... You still don't know just how much of a freak I am."
"Bella, I am a Vampire. Did you just forget? I doubt there is much you could say that would freak me out. But go ahead and tell me."
"Right… Well for starters, I am not going into the seventh grade like I'm supposed to be. When I started kindergarten I had already learned so much from reading people's thoughts, so they put me in the second grade. I could have gone higher, but I pretended to be a little dumber so that I wouldn't be too freakish. I was six and all of my classmates were eight or nine already."
"Bella, you are going into ninth grade? That is the grade that me and my sister Alice going to start at this year. When you start going to Forks High School, Alice and I will be in your grade. We were pretending to be home schooled until this school year begins."
"That is great! At least I will have one friend who goes to school with me." She smiled, forgetting any previous sadness.
"No, you will have five. I have to introduce you to my family tonight." I smiled back, weirdly excited and feeling unusually happy.
"Ok. But why tonight?"
"Well, you know the Vampire thing? That is a secret that none of us are supposed to tell anyone. It's like the first rule of being a vampire, keep it a secret. Now that you know..."
"I promise I won't tell anyone Edward!" She nearly shouted; her eyes wide and sincere.
"I trust you. It's just that they need to know. It's dangerous for us to stay somewhere when someone knows our secret. And Bella it is extremely dangerous for you too. They have to meet you. I'm sure that they will like you though." I reassured her, when I noticed her expression become a bit wary.
"How can I do it tonight? My dad..."
'Oh my gosh! I've got this!' Alice shouted in her excitement, her speed making it hard for me to catch. I understood though when Alice started to talk to Charlie, exaggerating her hyper teenager act. 'So, Bella seems like the sweetest girl I've ever met. Me and her could totally become best friends. If only I had more time to get to know her. Oh, and she should meet my sister Rose! They'd totally hit it off, too! Oh my gosh, Mr. Swan, I just got the best idea! Tonight, after Bella's party can I take her to my house for a sleep over? My mom would love to meet her, I'm sure. Oh, and Esme just baked a bunch of her famous Double Marshmallow Choco-Chunk Cookies! If Bella came over tonight, she could bring a whole bunch back tomorrow! Can she please! Pretty please, with sugar on top?' Alice prattled, jumping up and down in sincere excitement. Charlie couldn't resist her smile, or the promise of cookies, and gave in almost instantly.
'Sure, that sounds like something she'd enjoy. On one condition… call me Charlie.' I watched through Alice's thoughts as he smiled at her indulgently.
"Don't worry about it. Alice just took care of it. Let's go help your dad so you can enjoy your party." I smiled wider, nearly showing my teeth, but not wanting to incite an instinctual fear response, I held back.
"Ok. Umm, I told you before that I can basically turn off my mind reading thing, so I'll let you have your privacy from now on, ok?" Bella asked sheepishly.
"Alright. How do you do that, by the way? That's something I can't do with mine."
"Well, it works weird. I can only hear the people I can focus on, and I have trained my brain to focus on up to ten people at once if I need to. But I can also change the volume in a way. I can turn one up real loud over the others when I focus on more than one or I can turn it down so low, it sounds almost too quiet to hear."
"Interesting." We were abandoning her doll now and heading back downstairs. As Bella started to step down the stairs, her foot slipped and she started to fall. I ran ahead of her and caught her before she had even gone down two steps.
"Wow. That was embarrassing. Thanks."
"No problem Bella. Your birthday wouldn't be much fun if you had broken your ankle."
"No it wouldn't have, Bells. Try to be more careful. Now are you two going to help me here or what?" Charlie said as he appeared in the living room.
"Ok, but first. Bella should get the door." I walked toward the living room, leaving Bella and Charlie confused at the foot of the stairs until Bella read the thoughts of the boy about to ring the doorbell. Charlie shook his head thinking- Just like Bella- always answering the door before the bell even rings.
Charlie joined me back in the kitchen while Bella greeted her first guest- Jacob Black.
A/N- I decided Edward will tell Bella about vampires so quickly because he figures she will hear it in his thoughts anyway, because he is not used to having to guard his thoughts from anyone like his family does from him. Also he does not want to lose Bella after they just decided to become friends, and now that she is even more interesting.
Oh, and here's a list of ages and grades they'll be in: (or what age they're pretending to be since someone has gotten confused before)
Emmett: 17 grade 10 (held back a grade)
Rose: 16 grade 10
Jasper: 16 grade 10
Alice: 15 grade 9
Edward: 15 grade 9
Bella: 13 grade 9 (skipped two grades)
Jacob: 12 grade 7 (the grade Bella should be in since Jake's only about 6 months younger than her)
REVIEW PLEASE!
