Kinda long A/N but it's WORTH it i promise!
You need know some stuff! First off, Have you ever noticed how close bella and alice are? Isabellclair [an amazing writer, by the way] pointed out to me that the reason why they are so close MIGHT be because maybe Alice subcontiously is reminded of her human memories...No one knows of course, but keep this in mind. Cynthia is not like Bella, but she has some of the same qualities. Also! I had to make this story a little more modern. this is supposed to take place in 1916, but back then, they didn't have phones, [affordable] cars, or much of anything. I need that for the story to work. So, compromise. ;) Just remember that all of this is before alice even knows about the cullens. She is still ALL human here.
ENJOY!
Chapter 1
"Happy Birthday Cindy!" Alice's sweet voice floated into my room. I heard her skip over to my bed, humming happily, as always.
"Ah, Al-ice!" I groaned, and pulled the covers tighter over my head. I clamped down on them firmly when Alice tried to take them off.
"Aw, come on Cynthia, today is going to be great! It's going to be fun!" She mused.
No, it wasn't. Unlike my sister, I did not look forward to birthdays. So I got a year older, so what? I didn't see the big deal that everyone made about it. I wanted to grow up, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't like a fuss over me. Alice did. And if she had her way, she would make a big fuss over today. So like I said, it was not going to be a fun, great day.
"We're going to be late to school." She reminded me. I had no choice but to get out of bed. I huffed loudly, but still did not move.
"You're wasting time, Cindy! We still need to do your hair…oh! And your makeup, of course…" Alice was practically bouncing in place.
"What? No. Absolutely not, Alice. You know I do not do makeup, or anything of the sort."
Although we were close, Alice and I were quite different. I loved the rainy, wet, cold days; where I could curl up on the couch with a good book. Whereas Alice preferred the sunny, warm days; where she could skip around the yard as she planted tons of flowers everywhere.
I had to look away from her bright blue eyes when she made a puppy dog face. I hated that. I was a sucker for the puppy pout, and she knew it.
"Alice, please!" I begged, already sighing in defeat. You can't win against Alice.
"I know. I'll play you for it. Rock, paper, scissors. If I lose, I'll leave you alone, promise." She grinned widely when I did not answer. I narrowed my eyes at her, and frowned. I was never any good at that game. Alice knew that too.
"You know I'm awful at that game, Alice. I hate it. We both know who would win."
"You're right. So, let's just say I win. Brilliant!" She clapped her hands together excitedly. "I'll be waiting downstairs! Hurry up!" Before I had a chance to protest further, she dashed out the room.
I trudged out of bed, and began to make it up. My mother hated clutter, and would go hysterical if I left my room in a mess. Although she wouldn't know, really, because my parents went to work before we woke up in the mornings, and didn't return until late at night.
I brushed my teeth, and washed my face, before heading downstairs. Alice was in the process of placing two omelets on plates, which were already full of bacon and hash browns. We never had omelets, hash browns, and bacon in the mornings. We never had time.
"Alice? What time is it?" I knew we didn't have time for all of this. We had to walk to school, and normally that took about 30 minutes. (Although Alice was old enough to drive, our parents could only afford one car.)
"5:45." She answered nonchalantly as she popped a piece of bacon into her mouth. I gawked at her.
"What?!" I shrieked. I normally didn't wake up until 7, since we didn't leave the house until 8. Was she insane?
"We need time to do everything." Apparently she was. I continued to stare at her like she had lost her mind. I did not need that much time to get ready, by any means. She simply shrugged and turned around to dump the pans into the sink.
"I'll let you pick out my outfit, and do my hair today, Alice. But no dresses, and I don't want pigtails." I warned her; as I sat down to eat. She had just finished washing the dishes, and turned to hand me my plate. The look she gave me was one of displeasure.
"Why must you be so unreasonable, Cynthia? I've already found the most gorgeous pink silk dress…"
"—I don't have a pink silk dress, Alice." And if I did I would have burned it. I bit down into my hash browns, and began to slice up my omelet.
"It's my old dress. I can't fit it anymore. It would look perfect on you!" She chimed. I snorted. I was willing to bet this house that the dress still fit Alice. She'd weighed the same for almost 5 years, I doubt that was changing anytime soon.
For the next 15 minutes, Alice and I continue to argue about what I was going to wear, and what I would look like. We finally decided that I would wear a sweater with a knee-length skirt. Since it was October, it wasn't too cold or too hot, but even this was pushing it for me. I had grudgingly agreed because I would rather the skirt over a dress. The dress would be way too long on me, and I would undoubtedly be tripping all over the place. Dress or not, I was perfectly capable of being a klutz on my own.
I didn't budge on the makeup, and it was Alice's turn to grudgingly agree to just lip gloss and eye shadow, or nothing at all.
We finished breakfast, and Alice cleaned up for me. Since it was my birthday, she took my chore duties, and ordered me upstairs to take a shower.
It had been almost an hour since Alice had woken me up, and she buzzed around me, attempting to perfect my hair. I remained seated on the bed, and stared moodily at the wall with my arms folded. It was a relief when my mother called to wish me a happy birthday, with my father's best wishes as well. (I hadn't expected him to call, he never did.) Alice let me get up while she tried to find the perfect shade of lip gloss. I watched her skip out the room as I greeted my mother.
"How did you know I'd be up?" I asked my mother a short while into the conversation. She laughed quietly.
"We figured Alice would wake you up earlier today. I'm surprised she let you sleep this long."
It was my turn to laugh. "I wish mom. I've been up since about 5:30."
"Wow."
"Yea, I know."
"Well, at least you guys can get an early start to school."
"Yea." Oh joy, that's great. I could hear Alice in her room, digging through her make up kit.
"Well, I'll see you later. I must be getting back now."
"Okay," I replied, as Alice came back, "See you later, mom."
I clicked the phone off, and then groaned in horror when I saw that she had 5 different shiny, glittery bottles and tubes in her hand. This was going to be a long morning, and an even longer day.
* * *
I stared at the Barbie looking back at me in the mirror in disbelief. I was not looking at Cythnia Marie Brandon. She was lost somewhere under all this makeup and clothes. I had to give it to her, my sister could work wonders.
"What do you think?" Alice whispered from behind me. She looked at my reflection in the mirror, and I could tell she was holding her breath. This had to be the most tense I'd seen her all morning.
"It's…I, wow. Alice, you should be beautician or something, you're amazing."
"Thanks," She beamed.
We were out the door 20 minutes later, and headed off to school. I hated walking to school, but walking with Alice always made it better. We would play tons of stupid little games, and laugh at things that weren't all that funny. That is, until we went about two blocks, and ran into her friends. At first, they would occasionally tag along with us on the way to school, but it was definitely a routine thing now, much to my displeasure. Amber, Heather, and Scott. All seniors, just like Alice. I liked Amber, but Heather and Scott were annoying at times. They found me annoying as well, so we had a mutual understanding.
"Hey guys!" Alice waved frantically as soon as she spotted the group waiting in front of the little coffee shop. I rolled my eyes.
"Hey Alice," Scott said when we got closer. He glanced down at me, and raised his eyebrows. "So your sister's a princess now or something?"
I clenched my hands into fists, but kept quiet. I didn't think Alice would like it very much if I gave Scotty boy a broken nose.
"Aw, I think she's cute! If she had blond hair, she could be just like me. Almost. You can't imitate perfection." I rolled my eyes. Who in their right mind would want to be like Heather?
"Did you lose a bet, Cynthia? I know you would never wear this…" Amber didn't laugh or mock me, and for this I was grateful. She gave me a look of pity, before glaring at Scott and Heather, who shrugged.
"Uh," Alice bit her lip, and shot me a questioning look. It was the 'Can I please tell them, pleaseeeee?' look. I had made that a part of our deal too. She couldn't tell anyone today was my birthday. But then a sudden thought occurred to me: how was I going to explain why I was dressed up? I huffed, and nodded slightly. I swear Alice must have jumped 5 feet into the air.
"Yes! So, guys, today is Cynthia's birthday!"
Like I said, today was going to be a long, long day.
What did you think? Review!
