A/N: Here, is ze' next chapter. I'd loved to have started the baking in this one, but there's always the conflict that makes a good story...and the giant top hats; ya know.
"We should split into teams." Alice stated, her enthusiasm causing her to roll up and down on the balls of her feet.
As soon as the high soprano words left her mouth there were a few almost invisible white flashes and a second later the room had been rearranged so that everyone was sitting with their team.
Bella had frozen with a confused expression on her face.
She observed the room at large, wondering what had just taken place.
Alice was now bouncing in her seat on the window sill with Jasper trying to calm her from his seat beside her knees on the floor.
Rosalie sat on the couch with her head held high and her arms crossed triumphantly over her chest. She had her nose tilted in the air at an angle, away from Emmett.
He cowered on the other side of the couch whimpering and hunched over looking upset.
"Please, Rose? Don't you want to be on my team?!" Emmett asked desperately, giving her an irresistible pout that would break anyone's heart.
Rosalie merely shook her head, "I haven't forgotten last time." She said condescendingly and shifted in her seat so that her back was to him.
Emmett slumped and scowled.
Esme stood beside the wall next to the couch Emmett and Rose were occupying, while Carlisle was seated with a blank expression on a single chair in the room.
"Wouldn't you prefer my team, Esme?" Carlisle asked his wife.
She shook her head, "I'm a champion baker, you'll have to work by yourself." She said proudly.
Edward was, of course, beside Bella. He looked quite happy with this arrangement, and sat up ever straighter whenever he received a jealous glare from the other vampires who had lost their sense of human cooking.
"Now what?" Emmett asked after they sat around for another long while simply smiling crazily.
Everyone looked at each other trying to figure out where to go from there.
"Let's start cooking!" Alice hopped up and was about to rush to the kitchen when Bella pointed out something important and overlooked.
"Don't you only have one oven? And don't we have…" She counted for a moment, "…six teams? I think we should have a judge too, just to make it fun."
Alice's happy grin slipped off her face like pudding. "Oh."
Jasper spoke up, trying to comfort his wife, "We could take turns."
Alice smiled sweetly at her husband, "Good idea, Jazz."
Emmett snickered, but was silenced quickly by a kick from Rosalie.
"Bella can judge." Rosalie said happily, but with a wicked grin.
The other vampires nodded their agreement.
"What?!?!" Edward cried unhappily, though. He looked outraged. "That's not fair! Carlisle should judge, he's the least biased!"
"Carlisle can't taste the food Edward." Bella reminded him.
Edward looked upset. It was more out of the fact that now he had no advantage over the others than that he had just lost his girlfriend from his team.
Alice clapped her hands. "I want to go first!" she called out, hastening to get to the kitchen.
"Hey, I wanted to go first!" Emmett cried, crossing his arms and pouting like a little child.
"It's only fair, children, that I go first. I am, of course, clearly the most experienced cook." Esme pointed out proudly.
There was a buzzing of noises that now filled the living room while three couples argued over who would cook their Valentine's Day goodies first.
Bella looked between the arguing vampires, trying to read their quickly vibrating lips, and Edward scowled in the corner; still angry.
Minutes later, Carlisle stood up and put his hands flat out like a traffic conductor.
The talking ceased.
"I believe it is only fair if we do this in a calm and mature manner." Carlisle suggested- "Emmett, get the hat."
Four pairs of eyes were glued to his face in shock, the beautiful creatures of the night with their generous lips parted in surprise could do nothing but stare.
Bella looked on- confused, and a wicked grin spread across Emmett's face.
He placed the tips of his fingers together and his eyes shifted from side to side. "Brilliant."
Then Emmett was gone, and the room was quiet as the vampires frozen in shock had yet to recover.
"The h-h-hat?" Rosalie whispered. It carried on a cold breath, floating around the room like a haunting. Her face was paler than usual, even.
Carlisle nodded, looking grave. Edward, Alice, Rosalie, and Esme's expressions now mirrored his.
"What is The Hat?" Bella cocked her head to one side, and her brows furrowed.
"We do not speak of The Hat." Alice said monotonously.
Bella stared at the vampires, who stared at the floor, which had no eyes and was sadly unable to stare at anything.
Suddenly, Emmett was standing before them holding a large black top hat. It was as tall as him, and much wider. He had his arms wrapped around it, and they didn't fit all the way.
"That is the hat?" Bella's lips twitched as she fought back a smile.
"Yes." Jasper hissed.
Everyone turned to him. "Where have you been?!" they all asked simultaneously.
Jasper looked at them like they were the crazy ones who had just popped back into existence. "The author forgot about me."
Author Note I didn't forget about Jasper…he was just uhhhh, he just umm…he had to use the restroom. Right, that's it. Jasper's got a small bladder. Sorry, Jazz.
All the vampires- and Bella, clucked their tongues sympathetically and then turned back to the large top hat. Emmett had disappeared!
"Emmett!" Rosalie gasped, running over to the hat and searching around it. "He's gone!" she wailed, throwing her arms into the air hopelessly.
"It's okay, Rose." Jasper said, giving her a consoling shoulder-pat and spreading a calm throughout the room. "You know how the hat likes to play its tricks. Remember when Carlisle was taken? And even Esme."
"Yes, Rosalie…" Alice walked over as well, giving Rosalie a light hug, "All we need to do is make the hat an offering."
"An of-of-offering?" Bella asked, shivering.
Edward pulled her close, "Don't worry, love, you're safe."
Carlisle pulled a sheet of paper from his shirt pocket and Esme pulled a pen from hers. She handed it to her husband and everyone gathered, watching wordlessly as he pulled the cap off with a click.
Time seemed to slow as Carlisle's pen moved like a turtle toward the sheet of paper. It landed with its tip, making a small black dot on the snow white sheet.
Words began to form.
E- M- M- E- T- T////// R- O- S- A- L- I- E////// A- L- I- C- E/////// J- A- S- P- E- R
C- A- R- L- I- S- L- E //////E- S- M- E //////E- D- W- A- R- D
A/N: Yea...before...I totally forgot about Jasper. But shhhh...don't tell him. He might hate me, and I've been trying to set him up with a friend of mine: Ms. Silly Willy!
The next chapter shan't go up if you don't give me REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS!!! I need at least 10 for the next one to be up..but you never know with me, I'm a softie if you suck up -smiley face-