My first two lessons were reasonably okay. I had them both with Maria, so sitting next to her proved very useful in History. Jessica and Angela still seemed to be planning their shopping trip, and would no doubt fill me in another day. Third lesson was English. I was with Maria in this class as well, so we walked together to lesson. Half way there we were greeted by Alice jumping over the stairs in a vaulting manoeuvre. She landed right in front of me and looked at me with her sparkling golden eyes. I fell in love all over again.

"Your present!" She said in a singy-songy voice.

"Alice."

"Come on, you can't expect me to not get you anything!"

I looked at her and smirked a little.

"Oh and I've already seen you open it, you love it."

I laughed at Alice's prediction, which was probably going to be right.

"Thanks Alice, is it alright if I open it tonight?"

"Yes, that's what's planned."

"What do you mean?" I looked at Alice quizzically, then at Maria, then back at Alice.

I noticed that Maria was smiling at Alice. She had something planned, and I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it.

"You're coming to our house tonight for a party! I've planned it all out and I'm leaving early to get the rest of the house sorted out!"

She grabbed my hands and squeezed them, smiling gloriously at me.

"Alice..." I started.

"Come on Bella. Please?"

She gave me a look I couldn't resist and I had to say yes.

"Fine." I said, giving Alice my best smile.

"Yay!" She squealed.

She pulled me into a hug and I rested my head on her left shoulder.

"Come on Bella you have English to go to, remember?" Maria said lazily.

I sighed and pulled back, kissing Alice for a brief moment before leaving her for English.

The rest of the day went pretty quick considering, and I was starting to look forward to the party Alice had planned for me. Maria filled me in on what time Alice would be picking me up, and the rest I sorted out myself. Alice had bought me a gorgeous dress, which matched my earrings. A coincidence I think not. Charlie told me to enjoy myself, which I was sure I would.

Alice picked me up at exactly six pm. She drove me straight to her house and Esme welcomed me in. She took me upstairs whilst Alice finished off decorating downstairs. I was quite surprised that she hadn't finished, but Esme told me she wanted it perfect which is why it's taking her so long; she had re-done many things. I went into Alice's room and waited patiently with Esme. It was nice to get some time alone with her as I hadn't really spoken to her before. She asked a lot of questions about me, but alike the rest of her family, didn't tell me much about herself. I had a look through Alice's music collection and it looked like she had bought quite a number of new CD's since the last time I had been here. I noted a few artists in my head that I would want to borrow from Alice. A few minutes later and it was ready. Alice was waiting for me at the top of the stairs in a beautiful purple dress. She walked me down the stairs and her family welcomed me at the bottom.

Candles were running on the window sills and artificial candles were scattered around the room. Cream cloths had been placed over every surface and the tables had gold material around the edges of the table cloths. It looked lovely. I couldn't help but beam down at everyone as I walked down; it was a great feeling. We reached the bottom and Esme gave me a hug.

"Happy Birthday Bella." She said with a smile, and handed me a thin package that was quite long.

I held it with one hand and unwrapped with the other, but before I could finish un-wrapping it Emmett interrupted. I seemed to be the only one to notice him appear suddenly at the side of me. He grinned down at me.

"Happy birthday!" And handed me a large box.

Alice grabbed the present from Esme and Carlisle off me and Emmett gave me his present. It was strangely light and I had an urge to shake it, so I did so. I couldn't hear anything inside so I gave Emmett a quizzical look, to which he responded with;

"It's already installed in your truck. A new sound system for that piece of crap!" He laughed gently.

"Hey don't say that about my truck." I laughed too.

I was the only person who truly liked my truck. I personally didn't see anything wrong with it. I put the box down that Emmett gave me; I would un-wrap it later. Whatever would be written on the side of the box would mean nothing to me anyway so I'd save the confusion to when I'm alone and not surrounded by vampires. As I turned around to thank Emmett, Rosalie handed me a gift. It wasn't wrapped like the others but it was nice just the same. I opened the box and inside was a necklace. It was lovely. Alice got it out of the box and put it on me. I thanked Emmett and Rosalie at the same time. Alice handed me back the present from Esme and Carlisle and I continued to unwrap it. It was an envelope, a gift card I presumed. I opened the envelope, and inside were two airline tickets. I was amazed, these tickets must have cost a load of money!

"Wow, thank you so much!" I said and gave Esme a hug, and thanked Carlisle.

It was so nice of them, and I couldn't believe how much money they all would have spent on me. I would never be able to thank them. Maria skipped over to me and handed me a small package, then she skipped back to Jaspers side. I opened it and inside were three CD's, albums that I had mentioned to Alice that I was going to get soon. I thanked her and Jasper, and put them on the table where Alice had put my tickets. I decided that I'd open Emmett's present as well; I could blag my way through the instructions. I picked it up and took the paper off. The instructions were inside, so I opened the box. The cardboard was quite thick, and upon opening the box, sliced my finger on the cardboard. I looked at it as blood oozed out and ran down my finger. I started to feel dizzy, I hated blood. I looked at Alice who was staring down at my finger.

Suddenly, she turned towards Jasper. He was baring his teeth at me and being held back by Emmett, desperately trying to reach me. Maria jumped in front of him and was talking to him. She was speaking too quietly for me to hear her, but by the sounds of it, she was trying to convince him not to kill me. I was, for the first time in my life, truly scared for my life in front of Alice's family. I had always felt so safe with them, but I didn't. Alice had looked back at me and the only family member not licking their lips was Carlisle. I could even see Esme fighting to stop herself. Carlisle ran over to me and wiped the blood off my finger with a towel he had somehow got hold of. He nodded towards his family, and they all left. I sighed. Trust me to ruin my own birthday party. Alice had held back and wanted to stay with me, but Carlisle told her to leave, so she did.

He took me up to his office and dipped my finger in a bowl of water. It must have had something else in it as well because it stung like hell.

"How come human blood doesn't affect you anymore?"

Carlisle sighed. "I have never drunk human blood, so I have nothing to miss."

I nodded. Because I could totally relate to him... not.

"It takes years and years to stop yourself from wanting to kill humans. It's taken me well over a century myself."

He took my finger out of the bowl and dabbed it with a cloth, and put some bandage round it to stop the bleeding.

"Don't worry about it Bella. Like I've said to you it's hard for Jasper. He'll be feeling bad for a while."

"I don't want him to though; it wasn't his fault."

"He can't help it. If it was you in that situation, you'd feel just as bad as he does."

I had to agree with him there. Carlisle lit a match and held it to the top of the water which strangely set fire. I gasped a little out of surprise. I watched the flames dance on the water's surface and the stench of blood hit me. I looked away and up at Carlisle.

"Alice is waiting for you downstairs. I think it best if you went home tonight."

I nodded and left his office. I walked down the stairs and was met by Alice. She pulled me into a hug and apologized for what happened.

"It's not your fault!"

"I should have seen it coming." She muttered to herself.

"Alice!"

She looked up at me, a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry about it, just get me home please."

And she did just that.