A/N:

Thanks to those who have reviewed or put this story on alert! I really, really appreciate it! As always I want to thank my wonderful beta TwiDi for her advice and her quick and wonderful work. I don't think I would have been able to do this without her! She rocks! Okay....on to chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, i'm just playing with them! ;)

Chapter 2-Never Say Never

There're some things we don't talk about

Rather do without

And just hold the smile

Falling in and out of love

Ashamed and proud of

Together all the while

You can never say never

Why we don't know when

Time and time again

Younger now than we were before

BPOV

Oh my God! Why is Alice looking at me like that? Duh, Bella! You know why the hell she's looking at you like that. The question is… what the hell are you going to do about it? Can I just brush it off? Pretend like I don't know what she's talking about? Of course, I can't! She'll see right through me! So, I looked into her sympathetic eyes as she looked at me sitting on the auditorium stage with my knees drawn up to my chest. I let out what seemed to be a long-held breath. Then, I completely broke down.

"Oh, Bella, sweetie, calm down. It's okay, I just want to talk. I didn't mean to upset you!" she sunk down next to me, wrapped me up tight in her arms and started rubbing my head. I thanked God every day that he sent Alice into my life. She was like the sister I never had. No one understood me like Alice and I don't think anyone ever will. So, I thought it best that I, at least, try to open up to her. I'll just let the cards fall where they may. Here goes nothing…

"Alice... I just don't know what to do about the way I feel... I'm just so..." I couldn't finish because another round of tears were overflowing.

"Come on, Bella, we didn't need the lecture in Art class today. Let's get out of here and go talk. I'll take you some place I know you'll love!" she smiled at me and in that moment I knew what I had to do. I knew that she wouldn't judge me for what I was going to tell her. I needed to be honest with the girl who would so clearly do anything to see a smile on my face.

I smiled up at her, because the light that surrounded her was infectious, "Let's get out of here!" she smiled.

We strolled to her car, we hopped in and buckled up. She docked her I-pod and through her speakers blared Lady GaGa's 'Just Dance'. I immediately burst out into fits of giggles, because this was our biggest guilty pleasure song. Whenever one of us was upset, we would turn this up as high as we could and sing at the top of our lungs.

"I've had a little bit too much, much!" she started "Come on, Bella, you know you're the Lady to my GaGa!" She laughed. I took a deep breath and joined in.

"Just dance. Gonna be okay. Da-doo-doo-doo. Just dance, spin that record, babe. Da-doo-doo-doo..." I was already starting to feel better. We continued singing and dancing in the car until we pulled up at the little ice cream shop we all found when we were 15. Alice knew that a Chocolate Devotion ice cream cone would cheer me up and wrap me in a sugar induced paradise.

We went inside and placed our orders. Though I tried to pay for my own, Alice would have none of that. She paid and we sat at the booth at the back of the parlor. She let me have my moment of enjoyment with my ice cream and then she said it and I almost choked, "You like and maybe even love my brother. Don't you, Bella?"

Damn, how does she do that? You can never keep anything from Alice. She senses everything. There was no way I was going to be able to deny this. I took a deep breath and prepared to meet her eyes, I was sure that I was going to see disapproval. I looked up and was completely taken back by what I saw. She was smiling and I don't just mean a little smile. I think I saw every single tooth in her mouth. Nothing was more comical then an excited Alice, but that was also one of the dangerous things about her. When she got excited about something, she was like hell on wheels. The only words she knew when she was excited were, "GO! GO! GO!" She often threw caution to the wind and stepped out on faith. That was at times one of the most refreshing things about her. She lived everyday like it was her last and she made sure her friends did the same.

"Yes, Alice." I took a deep breath, "I've always loved Edward, but I never thought of it as more than platonic thing… until I realized all of a sudden that thoughts of him made my heart speed up. I started to notice little things about him. The look in his eyes when he gets excited about something. The way he runs his fingers through his hair when he's nervous. The way he pinches the bridge of his nose when he's frustrated. I realized that all of those things were things that I looked forward to seeing him do. I've hidden it for quite some time, because I know that he'll never look at me the way that I look at him. He'll never feel for me the way I feel for him. And, Alice… you have no idea how bad that hurts!" I slammed my hand down on the table in frustration.

Alice was looking at me with an expression that I couldn't quite explain. It was oddly very calm. She put her spoon down.

"Bella, you don't know how he feels. I don't think it's fair to say that he'll never feel the same way you do. Maybe he just doesn't realize that you feel that way for him. Hell, Bella, up until now... I had NO idea that you felt that way about Edward. To tell you the truth, I always thought that you and Edward would end up together way before Jasper and I became a couple the summer of 8th grade. Then, I thought FOR SURE that it would be before Emmett and Rosalie's dysfunctional asses! You guys complement each other in ways that Rosalie and I wish Jasper and Emmett would complement us. It just seemed to come natural to you guys. When it didn't happen during our camping trip in the 9th grade, I knew I had to be patient. Oh, Bella, I'm so excited about this!!!" she bounced in her seat. I knew I had to do something to calm her down.

"Calm down, Alice. I know by the look in your eyes that you are concocting some kind of matchmaker scheme and I don't want you to do that. I want to do this on my own terms and in my own way. Okay?" she looked at me with sad eyes, "Okay, Bella, I'll let you do this, your way... for now. Soooo, what's the plan, sweets?" She had an evil little gleam in her eyes.

"Well, my dear, Alice. I think the first phase of my plan is something that you'll be able to help me with." I gave her my evil little smirk.

"Do tell, Bella, do tell!" she sang.

"Well, the first thing I want to do is to see if I can get him to notice me and when I say notice... I mean, REALLY notice me. I want to see if I can affect him the way his 'play things' obviously do." Alice looked at me and blinked a couple times.

"Bella, you have to know that those girls mean nothing to him." I thought about that for a moment, but I couldn't bring myself to comment on that right now, "Are you going to help me or what, Ms. Fashionista Cullen?" I giggled.

"You tell me the day and I'm there, Bella. We are going to have so much fun!" she was bouncing in her seat again. "First thing's first, Alice...... MALL!!!" She shot up out of her seat faster than I have ever seen her go before. In a flash, I was being dragged out the door. When we were settled into her car, we decided that we would send everyone a text so they wouldn't worry about us when school let out. I took out my phone and saw that I had two new text messages. They both were from Edward.

*********

B,

I came to sit at the lunch table and you and Ali were gone. Rose said you left in a hurry and you seemed upset. What happened? Are you okay??

E

********

I didn't respond to that text. I clicked to read the next one.

********

B,

Bella! Damn it! I'm starting to get worried. I have been calling Ali's phone and it's going straight to voicemail. Tell me what's wrong so I can help you!

E

********

I thought the best thing to do was to respond, so that he could at least stop worrying. My fingers hovered over the letters on my BlackBerry. I had no idea what to tell him.

********

E,

I'm fine. Everything is okay.

B

********

I hit send and proceeded to send Jasper a text, because it looked like Alice was in an intense text convo with someone and I figured she hadn't had a chance to text Jazz.

********

Jazz,

I'm with Alice. We'll be back before dinner. Don't ask any questions. I promise you I'll take care of her. I'll bring her back unscathed! ;)

Bells

********

Jasper immediately called my phone. I answered with a smile.

"If it isn't my favorite Southern gentleman!" I chirped into the phone.

"Hey, there, my second favorite lil darlin'." he responded in his Southern accent.

Jasper was born in Texas but has spent most of his time here in Forks, but he still spends some time in Texas with his grandparents. So, he still has a little Southern accent. He was every bit the Southern gentleman. With all of the different personalities in our little group of friends, Jazz was always the one who calmed us all down. He was the mediator in all of our arguments. He was in love with Alice and I had never seen anyone as passionate about love as Jasper.

"Oh, Jazz, flattery will get you nowhere with me. That only works on your FAVORITE lil darling" I laughed as Alice playfully pushed my shoulder.

"Speaking of my favorite lil darlin'. Where is the love of my life?" he was so sweet. I thought I was going to develop a cavity, but I loved seeing him and Alice together; and I loved the way they interacted with each other. It was the epitome of love, respect and absolute devotion. There wasn't anything in the world that Jasper wouldn't do for Ali and it made me so happy that she had someone like Jazz in her life.

"I have kidnapped the love of your life for the day, but I promise to have her home before dinner, kind sir! You have three minutes to talk to her. Here she is." I joked. I handed the phone to Alice and motioned for her to give me her BlackBerry so that I could text Rose.

"Is this my favorite cowboy?" Alice sang into the phone and gave me a little wink. I made a gagging noise and scrolled to her message folder and the first message I saw was from Edward.

*********

Ali,

Is Bella ok? She sent me a text a few minutes ago saying that everything was fine, but something just seemed off. Did someone do anything to her?!? Tell me, Ali.

E

*********

I had to know what Alice said. I knew it was wrong that I was invading her privacy, but this is important. I had to know what she told him.

*********

Edward,

Bells is okay. I can't tell you anything more than that. We are going out for the day. We will be back before dinner. Anything other than that, you'll have to talk to Bella about. I can assure you though that she really is fine. She needs you and me to respect that and not bombard her with questions. Trust me, E!

Your favorite sister ;)

*********

I was so happy, that she left the ball in my court. Another text came through as I was typing Emmett a quick message. It was Edward.

*******

Favorite sister,

I want to take everyone out to dinner. I promise not to upset Bells. You know I wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt her. I trust you completely, Ali.

Your favorite brother ;)

********

I don't know why we always signed our texts, like we didn't know who were sending them. It was something we started doing at thirteen when we first got cell phones and we didn't know how the hell to work them properly. It just kinda stuck with us.

Well, it looks like we have dinner planned for tonight and admittedly I was excited to see Edward. It was time to head to the mall and find something that screamed "notice me" and not "fuck-mouth slut". I knew Alice could pull this off. She had a beautiful blank canvas to work with! That's not conceitedness talking, that is confidence. I know I'm sexy, but now it's time to accentuate those things that made me sexy. Let's get ready to do this.

Alice had finally got off the phone with Jasper.

"Okay, Ali, Edward wants us all to go out to dinner tonight, so you need to text him and tell him okay and ask when and where, so that we'll know what to shop for." I handed her, her phone back. She sent him a quick text and then she turned to me after he responded.

"We are going to Bellavitae for dinner at 7pm and then Aria after for dancing!" she did her excited dance.

I think Edward was planning on trying to get me to tell him the reason I was upset. He knew how much I loved Bellavitae! Not only was it a beautiful name for a restaurant, but my favorite uncle John owned it (hence the name!) and he always let us have wine even though we were only seventeen. He said that since we would be eighteen soon and were under his supervision it was okay. Little did he know that we all loved to party and being with Alice and Edward got us invited into a lot of clubs and bars. No one ever asked questions and we were able to drink as much as we wanted as long as we took a cab. Those were a few of the perks we did use. Thank goodness for Dr. Cullen and the hot interior designer Mrs. Cullen! Thank God it's Friday! I need a night of fun!

"Well let's get a move on, Ali, lots of shopping and so little time" I smiled.

We were headed towards the mall and surprisingly the sun was shining and my current mood was… optimistic. Let's hope it stays that way!

A/N: Tell me what you think! Next update before 2010!!! :)