Disclaimer- All things Twilight belong to S. Meyer, I'm just playing :)
Chapter Two- The Plan (ish)
Bella sat in a stunned silence for a few minutes, her mind reeling with what she'd overheard. Was that what other people saw? Did Alice see her as a charity case? And did everyone else think that she was mooning pathetically over Edward like some lovesick little girl? He was just Edward. Yes, of course he was gorgeous, but the whole family were, it was something you blocked out after a while of being in their presence. At times he was still a goofball, and he could still piss her off with the best of them. The idea of them as a them was... disconcerting.
And would Jess really find it so easy to separate her form the Cullens'? Because it couldn't just be Edward, it would have to be the whole family. Was she that replaceable? Would Edward even go for Jess in the first place? She was giving herself a headache.
"Get a grip, Swan," she told herself sternly. It was stupid- beyond stupid- to let a throw away comment from Jessica Stanley of all people affect her in any way. Giving herself a mental shake, she picked up her bags and headed for the parking lot, shivering slightly at the first signs of autumn chill in the air, determined to put what she'd overheard in the changing room to the back of her mind.
"What kept you?" Alice called across the parking lot as Bella came in to view.
"Lost sock emergency," Bella said as she reached her truck, unlocking the doors. Alice rolled her eyes and climbed in.
"The others headed back already," Alice told her. "Looks like rain," she added, peering out of the front window with a small frown. Bella looked out at the cloudless sky and chuckled.
"I think we're safe," she said as she pulled out of the school driveway, turning her truck away from town and heading towards the Cullen's home. By the time they arrived, however, the clouds had gathered and the first drops were beginning to fall.
"How do you always do that?" Bella muttered as the engine spluttered to a stop inside the shelter of the garage.
"Sixth sense," Alice grinned conspiratorially, tapping her temple with an immaculately manicured finger.
Rolling her eyes, Bella shouldered the door joining the garage and house open and saw the others lolling dejectedly by the full length living room windows, towels and bathing suits discarded haphazardly on the floor.
"Where have you been, Swan?" Edward demanded accusingly as she sat with her back propped up against the end of a convenient sofa.
"Lost sock emergency," she repeated her answer from earlier with a rueful grin.
"You're a disaster," Angela said affectionately from her position sprawled on the rug, using Ben's lap as a pillow. Bella stuck out her tongue and flung one of the sofa pillows at her head, missing by miles and sending it careering into one of Esme's artfully arranged displays of candles in the corner of the room with a clatter. There was a pregnant pause for a few seconds as five pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at her, before everyone burst in to helpless giggles.
Hearing the front door open a few minutes later caused Bella to scramble to her feet, stumbling hastily around the furniture to clear up the mess that the errant pillow had made. She was just righting the last candle as Esme entered the room. She looked quizzically at Bella.
"Hi Esme!" she said, a little too brightly, feeling the colour flood her cheeks. "Just… checking your candles here." She patted the top of the tallest one, sending it toppling over once more. Her efforts to catch it before it hit the ground sent three others falling down. Alice snorted loudly from across the room, and Angela dissolved into another round of hopeless giggles.
"Allow me," Esme's amused voice said from Bella's side, bending to right the display. Bella automatically reached out to help, but Esme's cool hand closed quickly around her wrist. "I'll manage dear," she said pointedly. "Why don't you all go to the kitchen and check the take out menu drawer and I'll order dinner later?" This suggestion was met with various cries of approval, and everyone was soon on their feet and heading for the kitchen.
"Loser," Edward said quietly as they passed in to the hall, knocking her arm lightly with his elbow. Bella looked up and saw the repressed laughter in his smiling eyes.
"Oh, shut up," she huffed, elbowing him back. He walked on ahead to wrestle Jasper for first dibs over the best menus, and she stood quietly at the kitchen door for a few moments, scrutinising him. Try as she might, she couldn't get Lauren and Jessica's poisonous words from earlier out of her head. She didn't think she treated Edward any differently from anyone else, so why would Jess have said what she did?
Bella's thoughts drifted back to the first time she'd met Edward. She had been eleven, and it was the summer she'd moved to live with Charlie in Forks. She'd been climbing trees in the garden when it had started to rain, and her foot had slipped on the wet bark as she'd climbed back down. Stupidly, although she hadn't known any better, she automatically held her arms out to break her fall. All she'd broken was her wrist. She didn't remember the drive to the hospital, or the wait to be seen, just the arrival of a tall and extremely handsome blond doctor with pale skin and friendly eyes. Walking beside him had been eleven year old Edward. He'd pressed the button to take the X-ray of her arm, and had been the first person to sign her cast. While their fathers had talked in Carlisle's office, they'd snuck out to explore, and had played pirates (Bella had vehemently refused to be the damsel in distress when 'knights' had been suggested as the first game), using old bones from model skeletons as swords. Bella had left the hospital with a now-bandaged broken wrist, a large bump on the forehead, and a firm new friend. That summer frequently found Bella with the Cullen children (and a few more times in the emergency room).
A prod in the back startled Bella back to reality.
"What's up with you?" Alice asked, waving her into the kitchen.
"Nothing," Bella brushed her off, snagging the best Cantonese menu from Ben. The resulting argument effectively halted Alice's line of enquiry.
Just as they finalised what they wanted to eat, Jasper neatly writing a list for Esme to place the order later, Carlisle arrived home.
"Good evening, all," he said, walking in to the kitchen and dropping a kiss on top of Alice's head as he walked to hang his coat up. "What's for dinner?"
"Esme's in charge," Edward said with a sly smile.
"She's not cooking?" Carlisle asked, eyes wide and looking panicked.
Edward laughed and shook his head, holding the menus up. Carlisle let out a relieved sigh.
"I head that!" Esme said indignantly as she entered the kitchen, walking over to swat Carlisle, who looked sheepish. "Don't give me those eyes, mister! My cooking isn't that bad."
"No, of course not," Carlisle said, assuming a voice suitable for someone visiting a sick friend. A series of chuckles came from the counter, and Esme turned to face them, pouting.
"Mom, you keep a beautiful home, and you're an amazing designer" Edward said diplomatically. "But you seriously cannot cook."
Esme's frown deepened. Carlisle's arms snaked around her waist, and he rested his head on her shoulder. "No one," he whispered in to her ear, brushing her hair lightly aside and making her smile. "No one orders take out like you do." He placed a gentle kiss on the side of her neck and Esme swatted him playfully away, laughing.
"Fine," she conceded, holding her hand out for the orders list. "But you're paying."
"So long as Szechuan chicken makes the list, you've got yourself a deal," Carlisle agreed with a grin.
Later that evening, after a delicious dinner, Bella was lying stomach-down on Alice's bed trying to get to grips with an English assignment. She was having little success, her mind wouldn't stay focussed and her treacherous thoughts kept on replaying Jess and Lauren's words.
As if someone like Edward would ever look twice at someone like Bella Swan… she's his weirdo sister's charity case…
I'm going to show Edward what a real woman is like… she'll be the first thing to go…
She jumped as something flew in to her head. Blinking and looking down, she saw a scrunched up ball of paper. "Bella!" Alice cried, exasperated, looking up from her own position lying on the floor at the foot of the bed. "What is with you today? You've been zoning out all evening!"
Before she could stop the words leaving her mouth, Bella heard herself ask, "You don't see me as a charity case, do you Alice?"
"Oh-kay," she drew they word out as she sat up, crossing her legs. "Not what I was expecting. Explain, please."
"It's nothing," Bella waved a hand dismissively, feeling beyond stupid. "Forget I said anything."
"Nice try," Alice said stoically, staring at Bella with a penetrating gaze.
"It's just something I heard Jess and Lauren say in the locker room earlier…"
"Those bitches!" Alice scoffed. Then realisation dawned on her face. "That's why you were late out, isn't it?"
Bella nodded, and before she knew it she'd retold the earlier overheard conversation in full, Alice's expressions going through the spectrum from confusion, disbelief, and finally settling in to rage.
"Bella, you are so… so stupid!" she cried finally, throwing her arms up in frustration.
"I… I'm… what?" Bella stuttered, confused.
"How could you think for even a moment that you're my… what… my charity case?" she cried. "You're my best friend, you're like one of the family. Hell, I'm just a little orphan girl who lucked in to the good life. If anyone's the charity case here, it's me."
"Alice!" Bella cried, horrified. "Esme and Carlisle love you, you're their daughter, they would never see you as a charity case-"
"Exactly," Alice cut her off, standing up and packing back and forth distractedly. "And I would never really think that's how they saw me. Just as you should never think that's how I see you, how any of us see you. You dishonour your relationship with our family to give any credit to what jealousy makes those snakes say."
Bella's shoulders sagged, and she nodded silently.
"And trust me when I say that firstly, no one thinks you're mooning over Edward, and secondly, there isn't a chance in hell that Jessica Stanley is replacing you in any way," she finished with finality.
Bella laughed shakily, and Alice sat on the edge of the bed, draping over Bella's shoulder and hugging her fiercely.
"Now," she said. "Let's have no more of this silliness."
"No more," Bella agreed, nodding firmly, pushing all the stupid and pointless doubts out of her head for good.
"And let's decide how to make those cheap, nasty little girls pay."
Bella's surprised gaze snapped up to meet Alice's- she was grinning, her eyes glinting dangerously.
"Pay?" she repeated faintly.
"Yes," Alice nodded. "We won't say anything to Edward, and we'll see what pathetic attempts they make to worm their way in to our lives before we crush them ruthlessly."
Bella swallowed nervously. "Or we could just let the whole thing go…"
"Don't be silly, Bella," Alice trilled, pulling a blank sheet of paper from her folder. "We can draw up a rough plan for revenge tonight-"
Bella's thoughts were all jumbled up. Two minutes ago everything was fine again, and now Jess and Lauren had to pay, and there was going to be revenge. What ever happened to the moral high ground? It met Alice Cullen and ran away crying.
"-And tomorrow," Alice continued, her eyes glinting even more. "We're going to call Rosalie."