Chapter Two: Party at the Cullen's
My first hour teacher hadn't been too happy with me being late. But because it was still towards the beginning of the year I didn't get into too much trouble. The rest of the day went by slow and I spent most of my time watching the clock. Lunch was pretty fun. Jasper, Alice, and Edward had joined us at our table, much to the discomfort of our old lunch crew. Leslie still had a different lunch period than me this year, so that sucked, but I had more classes with her so I was able to see her then.
When the final bell rang to announce the end of the day, I sped off to the truck where I waited impatiently for Edward to arrive with my sister. It took a few minutes but soon they showed up. I sat awkwardly in the middle since Bella insisted on driving and Edward had to tag along to babysit my sister. It was a bit of an uncomfortable drive but as soon as we got home I hopped out of the car, ran inside the house, threw my backpack on the kitchen table, and headed up to my room to get ready.
I had showered the night before so I didn't have to worry about that. Walking over to my vanity, I turned on my curling iron and let it warm up before changing into my dress for the night. I had seen it on one of my many shopping trips with Alice and had fallen in love with it. It was wine red in color and had holes cut out to show off the skin around my collarbone. Leaving my legs bare, I put on black ankles socks before slipping into my worn black converse. Pulling out the leather jacket I had gotten for my birthday, I threw it on my bed so I would remember to grab it on my way out. Just as I was doing that, my curling iron beeped letting me know it was at temp.
I didn't go to crazy with it, mainly using it to curl the hair on the sides of my face so that it fell nicer. I then just curled at few random chunks around my head before turning the device off and setting to work on my makeup. I had applied it pretty natural today so that I could fix it for tonight. Applying a dark shadow to my lid, I smoked it out before relining my upper eyelid and applying more mascara to my lashes. Once that was finished, I grabbed my phone from my discarded jean pocket and sent a text to Alice, telling her I was ready, before grabbing my jacket and heading downstairs.
Passing the living room, I saw that Edward and Bella had curled up on the couch and were watching Romeo and Juliet. The lights were off leaving the room pretty dark except for a faint beam of light seeping in through the window. "Could you two be more depressing?" I asked, leaning against the doorway with my arms crossed in front of my chest.
Bella reached out to grab the remote, pausing the film. "What, it's extra credit."
"Yeah, extra credit. Bella, you've seen this about a hundred times. I'm sure if you needed to write a paper you could have just done it from memory," I said, shaking my head slightly.
Bella scoffed at me. "Coming from the person who watches West Side Story almost every weekend." I glared at her, but she kept speaking. "Besides, I haven't seen this version. It's supposed to be the best."
From outside, a horn honked three times telling me that my ride was there. "First of all, West Side Story is a great movie, not at all boring like that junk." I pointed towards the TV. "And second, don't forget to get ready for your party tonight. Alice and I will both be very disappointed if you show up in what you're wearing now."
Without waiting for an answer, I detached myself from the wall and exited the house. I was surprised to see Jasper sitting in the Cullen's sleek black car waiting for me instead of Alice. He seemed to sense my confusion because he explained as soon as I got into the car.
"Alice has already started getting the house ready so she sent me to pick you up instead."
I gave a small groan as Jasper backed out of the driveway. "That little traitor, she promised she would wait for me."
"It's Alice, you can't honestly tell me this doesn't surprise you." Jasper chuckled.
As much as I wanted to disagree, I couldn't. It just wasn't in Alice's nature to sit around and wait when there was something to be done. Especially if that something was getting ready for a party. Jasper and I made small talk to fill the short amount of time it took us to get from my house to his.
"Well, it doesn't look like she's done too much without me," I muttered as I got out of the car, looking up at the lanterns that hung above the front door.
Jasper gave me a look before walking into the house, me following closely behind.
There were flowers everywhere. Hundreds of pink roses lay in a pile in the front entryway with Alice sitting next to them, pulling the petals from the stems and collecting them in a large crystal bowl.
"Alice, I thought I said we had to downplay it for Bella." I reminded, stepping forward to stand in front of her.
"I am downplaying it," Alice said, looking sheepishly up at me.
"This doesn't look very low key." I pointed out, nodding my head towards the stack of roses next to her.
Alice looked at the roses for a moment before shaking her head. "I already have the roses in bowls set up in the living room. These are the extras. I thought we could take the petals and sprinkle them around the tables."
I opened my mouth to comment only to scream in surprise instead as two large hands grabbed my sides and lifted me from the ground.
"Emmett!" I screamed, knowing exactly whom it was that had snuck up on me.
"God I've missed you, Al."
He sat me back on the ground before spinning me around and picking me up once more for a hug. I wrapped my own arms around his neck and returned the hug. Although I hadn't missed having him sneak up behind me every time I came over and scaring me, I had missed him.
"I thought you were in Africa," I said as soon as I let him go, backing up a step to look up at him. It had been a few weeks since he and Rosalie had "gone off to college" which translated to them traveling.
"We were, but I wasn't going to miss this. A chance to pick on your sister, it's a no-brainer."
I shook my head at his smirk before playfully hitting him in the arm. "You be nice to her, it's her birthday after all."
Emmett shrugged his shoulders, brushing the comment off before nodding behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw Alice standing there holding her large glass bowl full of pink rose petals. Looking down at the pile, I saw that it was all stems now.
"Dang Alice."
She just smiled at me before telling Emmett to pick up the now useless flower stems and get rid of them. With a roll of his eyes, he grabbed the entire pile in his large arms and took them outside. Alice then grabbed one of my hands and dragged me up the steps until we were in the living room where hundreds of candles sat in one corner while bowls of roses sat in another.
"We're going to spread these out, right Alice?" I asked, my mouth dropping slightly. In the back of my mind I wondered if this is what it had looked like while she was getting ready for my party a few months ago.
"Oh course," She assured before telling me her plan.
She wanted all the flowers and candles to be in the living room and then to have the petals she has just plucked scattered across tabletops and the top of Edward's piano. It took some talking down but I was soon able to convince her to cut the number of candles and flowers down by half. We compromised by using them to set up the back porch as well. We worked for hours, making sure every little thing was perfect.
"Edward just pulled in with Bella," Jasper informed us at twenty to seven.
Alice and I straightened up from the cluster of candles we were lighting, surprised looks on both our faces.
"But we're not ready yet." I told him, looking around the room. Candles still had to be lit, the cake was still in the kitchen, and Esme and Carlisle hadn't returned from hunting.
"He'll just have to take her to his room or something and stall," Alice said, returning to her work of lighting candles.
Groaning, I started out of the room. "I guess I'll go tell him that." I muttered before heading down to the front entry were I met Edward and Bella taking off their coats. Crossing my arms over my chest, I glared at the pair of them. "Don't you two know how to read a clock? You're early."
Bella looked down at her feet while Edward shook his head at me. "I know, I know. But I wanted to show Bella something."
"Well, it better not be in the living room because we aren't finished yet."
"It's not, it's upstairs," Edward assured, grabbing Bella's hands and slowly leading her up the stairs towards the bedrooms.
"You better stay up there until we're ready or I'm going to stake your ass, Eddie." I yelled up at them, even though I knew staking him would have no effect.
The sound of his laughter trickled down to me, causing me to huff before heading back to the living room. Alice had finished lighting all the candles and was now bringing the cake in from the kitchen. It was a lot smaller than mine had been, and a lot less extravagant, but still looked elegant and impressive which made it perfect for Bella. We finished off everything just as Esme and Carlisle returned from their hunting trip. With one last look around the room, Alice skipped off to go and collect the birthday girl just as the clock stroke seven.
All the remaining Cullen's stood around waiting for my sister with me, smiles on all of their faces. Well, except for Rosalie but she didn't really count. When Alice led my sister into the living room, the look on her face was priceless. I wish I had her camera so that I could have taken a picture of it.
"I tried to keep Alice from going overboard, Bells," I promised as she came down the stairs. "Trust me, it could have been a lot worse."
Alice gave a scoff and flashed me a mock glare as Esme and Carlisle hugged my sister and wished her a happy birthday. The pixie-like vampire then skipped out of the room, using her enhanced speed, before returning with a small silver device in her hand. With a quick flash, she took a picture of the group with Bella's camera.
"I found it in your coat pocket. Mind?"
"Dating an older woman. Hot." Emmett seemed to stage whisper to Edward, nudging the bronze haired vampire.
A blush covered Bella's cheeks while I glared at Emmett. "Beast, what did I say about picking on the birthday girl?"
"Hey, you never said anything about picking on Edward. It's not my fault everything embarrasses Bella." Emmett pointed out, winking at my sister, which caused her face to go completely red.
I glared and stuck my tongue out at him but didn't say anything else as Rosalie stepped forward and handed Bella a small silver package.
"It's a necklace," she said before Bella could even remove the ribbon, her tone letting us all know that she was not enjoying herself. "Alice picked it out."
Moving quickly, Alice pushed me towards my sister. "How about a picture of the sisters."
I rolled my eyes at her but put an arm around Bella's waist and smiled while Alice stood in front of us. We stood there for a moment, waiting for the flash to go off. When the picture was taken, I move to the side and stood next to Carlisle and Esme while Alice went and grabbed Edward. After pushing him and Bella together, she once again held up the camera to take a picture.
"Show me the love!" She cried when the two just stood there. At the command, they put their arms around each other before looking lovely at one another. Once the picture was taken, Alice smiled widely before skipping over to the gift table once more.
"This one's from Emmett and Jasper."
I watched as Bella took the box and looked at it with a confused expression before lifting it to her ear before shaking it. Furrowing my brows, I looked behind me at Emmett and Jasper who were standing next to one another.
"It's a new radio," Jasper informed her, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Already installed it in your truck," Emmett added happily, a proud smile on his face.
"Wait, you got her a radio for the truck, that's not fair," I said turning to look at both of them. "All I got from you was a jacket."
Emmett gave a chuckle before coming to stand next to me, placing a large arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry, you can enjoy the radio too. Plus, I thought you liked the jacket. It makes you look more badass."
I looked down at the jacket I wore before sighing in defeat. He was right. "I do look pretty badass, don't I?"
"For a human," Jasper muttered a few steps away, causing everyone in the room to laugh while I stuck my tongue out at him. Even Rosalie cracked a small smile.
"Someone just give Bella another present." I insisted after a while.
Alice obliged and handed Bella the gift from Esme and Carlisle.
"Something to brighten your day," Carlisle said with a smile.
"You've been looking a little pale," Esme added, her white teeth shining as they watched Bella open their gift.
It seemed like they were hinting at something, but we never found out what. Bella, being the klutz she was, sliced her finger on a bit of the wrapping and caused a small bead of blood to bubble up to the surface of her skin. The next thing I knew, everything turned to slow motion as the atmosphere in the room took a drastic turn.
Authors Note:: Not the best of endings but this chapter got long quick. I had originally planned for Jasper to freak out and all the good stuff at the end of this, but that didn't happen. Oh well. At least you guys got to see some major Alex/Cullen bonding time. Now I would like to talk about the first chapter because holy cow you all blew me away with your response! We got 8 reviews, 29 favs, and 46 follows- in two days! Not to mention all the profile and story views. That is amazing! I can't thank you all enough! It means so much to me that you would take the time to leave me such kind words about this story or my writing, like it enough to add it to your favorites, or even follow it because you want to read more. Just, you guys are awesome and I love you all! :)
