Author's note: This chapter's dedication goes out to...-drumroll-...Xthereal-meX and Dianneisthename!
Hope you enjoy the chapter, and reviews (as always) are appriciated!
"Alice, over here!" Rosalie called. Alice kept a firm grip on Bella's hand and pulled her to where Rose was waiting. "Took you long enough."
She scoffed, "Alice, it's call short notice." She lowered her voice, "How are you expecting this to work."
Alice responded, still in a tone too low for the human beside her to hear, "He hasn't noticed her yet, I have to force his hand."
"Why? Rose asked, disbelief coloring her tone, " Why her? And a human with one of us? You, of all people know how dangerous that is."
"It'll work out." Alice smiled and took off back to the first store she and Bella had started to shop in. "I already found some cute dresses in here. We can shop for accessories later."
"Okay Alice, whatever." Rose strode into the store in question. Alice ran back to the clerk and grabbed the dresses she asked the clerk to hold for her. She carried them back to where Rose and Bella were waiting by the dressing rooms.
She separated the dresses into two piles and threw them to the corresponding girl before shooing them off to change. The deep purple would look nice on Rose, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to have Bella in red. She sat down on the white seat by the mirror and waited for them to finish.
Rose glided out, followed shortly by Bella, who had her arms crossed over her chest. Both girls stopped in front of the three-way mirror and critiqued their reflections, while Alice got up and flitted around them, adjusting a strap or the way the skirt fell. She then grabbed another dress off their piles and sent them off again.
That process continued for the next three dresses that Alice had picked out, before she shook her head and told them to get changed back into their street clothes. Alice walked to the other side of the store and flipped through their more classy clothes. Quickly, before either of the girls were finished changing, she grabbed what she would put Bella in the next day and headed to the register to check out.
Rose met her by the door and tried to look in one of the bags, before Alice smacked her hand, "No."
She frowned, and continued to try and take the bag, and many of the shoppers stopped to stare at the pixie who was easily playing keep away from a willowy blond. Bella peeked out of the room and shook her head before grabbing the dresses she'd tried on before placing them on the discard rack.
Alice saw her coming and waved her over, "Come on, there's a few other dress stores on this floor that I want to look at! We don't have all day!" Rose saw this as an opportunity to try to steal whatever was in the bag and made a not so subtle lunge for it. Seeing this, she lifted the bag up, and Rosalie tumbled out of the store.
When she stopped rolling, she spun up gracefully and looked at Alice with a slightly bewildered expression, in which caused Alice and Bella to succumb to a laughing fit.
"Alice, no!" Bella stared at the current dress, which had caused the little pixie to jump up and down repeatedly, clapping her hands. Rose was sitting in a fawn colored chair, looking on with interest. Bella backed up from the mirror in a desperate attempt to get changed into something that didn't make her blush scarlet when she caught her reflection.
The navy dress was long and flowing, the fabric rippling like water over her petite figure and falling into a small train behind her while fading to a more delicate shade of blue. There was a silver strap running across the chest and over one shoulder, the dress hugging her curves in all the right places.
She couldn't imagine herself facing anyone in this.
Rose stood up from her chair in one fluid moment, and was pulling Bella back to the mirror the next. She stepped back and smirked, "What's got you so freaked? You look fine." She turned redder as she continued to look at her reflection, while the two other girls set themselves fluttering around her, pulling up her hair and adjusting the dress.
Alice stepped back from Bella and sent her back to change out of the dress, before turning to her sister, "You see what I mean, now?"
She shook her head, "She pretty…for a human, but way too shy." She leaned against one of the dressing room doors and examined her reflection to make sure her lip gloss hadn't smudged, "How exactly do you plan to get him to go anyway?"
"Simple," Alice smiled, "Curiosity, and he knows I'm arranging this, so he's not going to stand the poor girl up, is he?" Rose rolled her eyes and turned towards Bella as she walked out of the dressing room, dress in hand. Alice grabbed it faster than the poor girl could blink, and the trio made its way toward the register, Bella protesting all the way, "Alice, there's no way I can afford that!"
"It's okay", she responded, smiling as she reached the register and swiped her card, "You can always pay me back later." The cashier put the dress in a bag and handed it to Alice, who proceeded to hand it to Rosalie, "Go put this in the car, please?"
Rose rolled her eyes but grabbed the dress and exited the store. Alice pulled Bella after her and across the mall floor chatting all the way, "I already know the perfect jewelry for that dress, but I haven't a drop of makeup that would be anything close to your color." She pulled the poor girl through the door of another store and up to the desk, "I have an appointment under the name Alice Cullen?"
The receptionist glanced up from her magazine and looked at her computer monitor, "I don't have you marked down for today, try again later, sweetheart."
Alice smirked, her golden eyes wicked with glee, "I beg to differ, Miss Amhardt, Cameron is waiting for me, and we both know how he hates late appointments." The woman rolled her eyes and stood up, adjusting her black skirt, "Whatever you say, Princess." She turned around and disappeared through a red curtain.
Bella looked at Alice in disbelief, "We don't have to do this Alice, you've done more than enough." Alice heard the quivering in her voice and hugged the much taller girl, "That woman gets on my nerves for one thing, and the fact that you deserve this is another. Don't worry about anything."
Just then, the very shaky receptionist walked back into the room, followed by a rather handsome man. He smiled at Alice and walked over to give her a warm embrace, "What a pleasure it is to see you again, my dear," He then turned to Bella, "And am I to assume that this is the lovely creature you told me about?" Bella smiled timidly as she answered him, "It is."
"Come on then," He took Bella's hand and pulled her back behind the curtain, Alice following closely behind. He motioned for her to sit in the black salon chair in front of the mirror and swung a black cape over her, fastening it around her neck.
"You know," He commented toward Alice as he brushed out Bella's hair, "This is probably the best base I've had in years. Everything here is almost perfect." He spritzed her hair down with a bottle of water, his light tenor voice keeping the silence at bay. Alice leaned on the vanity, her expression flickering from vacant to smug as Cameron grabbed a pair of scissors from his work table.
Bella put her hand up, "Whoa, what are you doing?" He froze, but Alice walked over and looked at Bella, "Do you trust me?"
If Bella was being completely honest with herself, she wasn't entirely certain. Alice's motives behind all her kindness were sweet, but it couldn't be without a cost. The girl in question saw the battle in her eyes and lifted her chin up to meet her gaze, "I promise on my relationship with Jasper that I am not going to hurt you, will you please trust me?" Cameron gasped, his hand flying to his mouth in surprise. Bella lowered he gaze and bit her lip, could she really trust this girl, who still is, for the most part, as stranger? After a few moments she looked back, and nodded.
She just hoped that she wouldn't regret it.
Bella shook her head as they left the mall, not used to the feathery layers brushing her face. Alice was carrying three different bags full of cosmetic products, plus another two full of clothes. She tossed them in the back seat to the Volvo and hopped in, speeding back toward Forks. They reached her house in no time.
After giving Alice a quick goodbye and being assured that Alice would hold on to the dress for now, she walked unsteadily toward her front door. Taking a deep breath before opening the door, she prepared for the inquisitive questioning of her single father before finally stepping over the threshold.
"Who was that, Bells?" Charlie asked, leaning against the door frame of the living room.
"A friend from school." She responded, trying to get away with the vaguest answer possible.
"Anyone I know?"
Bella sighed, there was no getting out of this, "Alice Cullen, actually."
Charlie relaxed considerably, "Nice family, the Cullens."
Bella smiled and made her way toward the stairs, stopping at the top when her father started talking again, "Are you going to the dance next week?"
"Yeah…I am." She responded, her hand lingering on the railing. She looked down to see him smile, "Have fun."
She nodded, then left for the warm embrace of the shower.
This was going to be a long two weeks.
This chapter was written most recently (seeing that I had lost the story for over a year before happening on it again - the beginning of this chapter was with the original draft), so the writing may be a little different (for better or worse, it's up to you)
Hope you enjoyed it :D
Lizzi
