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Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters; Stephanie Meyer does.
Here's Chapter 2
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Chapter Two: Hell on Earth
BPOV
We were greeted by a squealing Alice a before we even made it out of the car.
"Hey Bella!" she all but yelled, unable to contain her excitement.
"Hi Alice," I said, making my voice softer on purpose to show her that there was no need for all the volume. I shook my head in amusement. I watched her as she looked over my outfit; her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. It would have been obvious to anyone that she was already formulating a plan. Knowing Alice, that plan probably worked more in her favour than mine.
Esme had contacted Charlie to let him know that I was going to be spending the weekend with Alice, and that I would be going with her to school on Monday. Charlie couldn't understand why I was always having sleepovers with Alice, but he didn't question it too much and brushed it off as a "girl thing".
I was beginning to grow a bit uncomfortable under Alice's gaze and I could feel the blush creeping up my neck and beginning to assault my cheeks.
Edward, noticing this, took my hand and walked with me toward the front door, away from the deranged pixie. Alice walked, more liked danced, past us and into the house before we made it to the stairs; she still did not feel the need to keep up with my 'aggravating human pace'. Her words, not mine.
I was greeted by Carlisle and Esme as soon as I made it through the front door. Esme gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead and Carlisle shook my hand. No wanting to be overly-formal however, he, too, kissed my forehead. I was like a daughter to them; anyone could sense that.
Jasper appeared at the foot of the stairs and waved at me with a smile, keeping his distance. I smiled back slightly and waved back. Although I knew that there was no personal reason as to why Jasper avoided me so much, I couldn't help but be a little sensitive about it. I knew it was harder for him to be around my blood, thus me as well, than the others. I had to keep reminding myself of that whenever I saw him easing back from me a step or two.
A wave of comfort washed over me, immediately relaxing my slightly hunched and defensive posture. I really couldn't help it. When you are in a house filled with beings with this degree of beauty, you really can't help but notice your own imperfection with magnified eyes.
Suddenly, Emmett was there, in all his hugeness. He had on the same goofy grin that he always had whenever he saw me. It was cute, and quite the contrast to his intimidating form. He grabbed me into a bare hug; a very tight bear hug.
"Can't… breathe… Em," I choked out, making the others chuckle.
I very nearly passed out from the lack of oxygen, but then he let me go. As soon as my feet touched the ground and my body was free from the prison of his strong and cold arms, I gasped in a much needed breath. I swayed, feeling a bit light-headed and tried to glare at Emmett, but I was too weak to manage putting any strong antagonism into my defiant stare.
"So," Emmett started, "how's my favourite human doing?" I ignored his question and focused on steadying my breathing.
I noticed that everyone was here except for Rosalie. I was about to ask where she was when she suddenly appeared a few feet behind Emmett. She smiled at me, which she had been doing ever since Alice and I came back from Italy with Edward. Her smile was an appreciated effort, but there were times when she had to really work in order for her to master up smiling at me; usually it would come out as closer to a grimace than a smile.
When she smiled now, however, it was a smile of anticipation and excitement. I could only guess what was going through her head. I looked to Edward for a translation to the slightly unsettling twinkle in her eyes but he just smiled and told me not to worry.
"Everything's going to be fine Bella," Alice chimed. "Relax." My eyes narrowed.
It's not that I didn't believe her; I did, but what made her words fail to reassure me is that Alice's definition of "fine" and my definition of "fine" are more often than not two very disparate things.
It was time for Edward to leave with the others. To say I was nervous about being left alone with Alice and Rosalie would be an immense understatement. I was sweating in places that I didn't even know I could sweat!
"Goodbye love," Edward said before kissing the top of my head. I tried to smile but it was a wasted effort; you didn't need to be Jasper to be able to sense my anxiety.
"Bye Eddie," I said with a smile. "Hurry back."
"Yeah Eddie," Emmett said through laughter. "We don't want anything bad to happen to poor Bella, now do we?"
Edward glared at Emmett. He was only okay with being called "Eddie" when it was me calling him that. Either way, it was easy to see that Emmett said and meant it mockingly whereas I said it with love.
After a few more wise-cracks from Emmett, he left the house quickly, trying to catch up to the others who had not had the patience to wait on him.
I turned around slowly to find Alice staring at my clothes again with the same expression she had worn a while ago. My heart rate picked up when Alice started advancing on me, not taking her eyes off of my clothes. I started backing up a step with each one that she progressed.
"Stop acting like a child Bella," Alice said, peeved.
I kept backing up though, not willing to go down without a fight. Alice suddenly had a huge and triumphant grin stretching her face. I didn't understand her sudden change in expression until after a two more steps, I hit a wall. I was trapped.
"No Alice," I said in a final tone.
"Come on Bella, don't be like that. Let's go have some fun."
I raised my eyebrow at the word "fun" which, much like "fine" held very different meanings for us.
"You know what I mean," Alice said defensively. I rolled my eyes at her and she grabbed my hand. I was expecting her to take me upstairs to her room (or torture chamber, as I sometimes call it) so I was pretty confused when I found her leading us to the garage. We were headed for Rosalie's convertible, the driver's seat already occupied.
"What took you guys so long?" Rose asked impatiently. "You want to get there in time, don't you?"
"Sorry," Alice said. "I told you Bella would be difficult."
After that, Rosalie started the engine and started driving off at a maniacal speed; and I thought Edward drove fast. I scrambled for my seatbelt and I buckled myself in, holding on to the car seat for dear life. I had no idea where they were taking me, nor were they willing to tell me when I asked. I gave up on finding out when it proved fruitless.
Almost an hour later, I noticed that Rosalie had slowed down; not a lot, but enough to make a difference. There, a little more than a hundred yards away, was Alice's heaven and my very own hell on earth.
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