Disclaimer: Nope.
Okay, guys. I am so sorry for the long wait here. A/N at the bottom.
BPOV
I sighed, watching as Alice set out my clothes for the mall. I was surprised that she even had clothes that fit me, as she's much smaller than I am. I had to admit that I was jealous of her tiny form and her stunning features. Her short pixie cut accented her fairy-like face and bright blue eyes. I surely seemed plain next to her, no matter what she dressed me in. I could have been in a D&G dress and looked plain next to Alice even if she wore dishrags. Surely, Jasper saw that in her, as well as her bouncy attitude.
She set out quite an interesting outfit on her bed and then looked over at me, smiling. She leaned back slightly, placed her hands on her hips, and said, "Perfect," obviously satisfied with her work. I looked over the outfit, hoping for nothing too revealing. There's a dark pair of skinny jeans, high-heeled boots, and a cute open-back top. I hated to admit that I actually liked it.
"Do you need anything else?" Alice sweetly asked. "I imagine that your bra got pretty wet." I blushed a million shades of red and then nodded slowly.
"But I have some, don't worry Alice, and you didn't need to do this. I have clothes too you know."
"Are you talking about jeans three sizes too big and those band shirts my brother might wear? I've seen what you brought, Bella, and trust me when I say that you need a new wardrobe." I glared at her. She simply laughed as I rolled my eyes, searching her room in the process.
Her entire room was pink, miles and miles of every possible shade of pink. She had the typical teenage sister's room in those bad films, with the fuzzy corded phone and the magenta canopy hovering nobly over her white four poster bed. Her carpet was a soft, fluffy white, like clouds floating in the sky, and her walls were the color of a rosy blush. The milk carton from earlier was discarded on the floor, the milk stains hidden in the carpet. The only thing that would give it away was the feeling of a sticky liquid under your feet if you stepped there. Surely, however, it would dry, and become more of a crusty feeling, like stepping on crumpled paper.
Finishing my analysis of Alice's room, I collected the clothes she set out for me in my hands and headed for the door, to change in the bathroom. I remembered something then. Neither of us had driving licenses and Carlisle didn't seem like the kind of father to be particularly enthused to drive his teenage daughter to the mall. I turned my head back over my shoulder to look at Alice one more time.
"Who's driving?" I asked.
"There's a reason I'm dragging along Edward, he's almost seventeen, so yeah, he has his license. I'm only fifteen and you just turned fifteen, right? I don't even have my permit yet." She pouted. This time it was my turn to laugh.
"Well, I'm going to go get changed," I said, exiting her room. I walked quickly to my own boring room, with the white bed, the white walls, the white carpet… I would have walked at a much more normal pace had not been scared for another Edward encounter.
I couldn't believe myself. I was terrified of him, talking about him like he was a great white shark. But I wasn't sure if I'd rather be on the National Geographic show during Shark week, discussing my latest "Shark Encounter" (which for me had been at Sea World a few years back but I'm too scared to go in there now) or if I'd rather come face to face with Edward again. The shark sure seemed a lot less terrifying at the moment.
As soon as I reached my room, I closed the door behind me, breathing rather hard for just walking down the hall. I guess I was more nervous than I thought. I heaved my suitcase onto my bed and yanked open the zipper. The top popped off from being so stuffed full with clothes. I grabbed the few other things I needed and stripped down. I changed quickly, for fear someone would barge into my room any second. The Cullens weren't big on privacy. I noticed that none of the doors, besides the doors to the bathrooms, had locks on them.
Once I had changed, I pulled my long, straightened, mahogany colored hair into a high ponytail. I slipped in a headband to keep any strays from falling in my face and turned to look in the mirror. All of the clothes were much tighter than I would have liked, my normally invisible curves actually able to be seen. I didn't like it. They made me look like I have chicken legs, no chest visible to the naked human eye, a waist that anyone could probably easily wrap their thumb and forefinger around. My height didn't help. It made me look even more anorexic than my invisible curves did. The suede boots must have had at least a three-inch heel, probably to make little Alice taller. I didn't need the height, in fact, I wish I didn't have the height, but was smart enough not to argue with her. Satisfied as I'd ever be, I nodded my head to my reflection and opened the door.
Edward's bedroom door was swung wide open, and instead of light illuminating the hall from the doorway there was only a shadow where light should have been, covering the hardwood floor. As I walked to the staircase, I peeked inside his dark room. I could see much, but enough to know that he wasn't in there. He was probably downstairs with Alice, annoyed that he had to drive his little sister around. He definitely wasn't the mall crawler type Alice was.
I cautiously walked down the stairs, where I waited at the bottom step, taking the almost comical scene around me. Edward was sitting in a kitchen chair with his head on the table, tucked away in his crossed arms to keep from any light reaching his face. He was so completely stoic and unmoving I would have thought he was a forgotten blanket strewn across the table. He was the only smudge of black adorning the bright room. Alice flitted happily around the countertops and table chairs, like the girls in the corny romance movies do when they think they've found "the one." The bight, bubbly attitude evened out the surly, irascible one Edward radiated. It amused me the most that these two could possibly be remotely related, let alone immediate family, siblings none the less.
Alice was on the phone with someone. I listened.
"She's so nice. You'll love her Rosalie."
"Stepsister, yeah."
"Well, no but he will."
"Please! Take Emmett. I already told Jasper to go."
"Yeah he is."
"Okay, I'll see you there then." She hung up. I had the sinking feeling I would have to go through a few more introductions today. "Oh, Bella!" She exclaimed when she saw me. "Your ready, let's go." She went over to Edward and started to pull him up by the fabric of his hoodie. "Come on, Edward. I can't lift your entire weight you know."
He stood up to stand it his full over six-foot splendor. He barely gave me a sideways glanced before he turned and began walking straight toward the garage.
Yes, I felt a little, just a little considering that I barely knew the guy, rejected. I had dressed up, for the sake of not being killed by Alice, and was noticed even less that I had before. Before, I was told to get out of his room. It wasn't particularly what I wanted to hear, but hey, it's talking. Hell, it was even conversation. At least he didn't just slam the door in my face.
Alice dragged me behind her as we walked to his car. I was a little less than surprised to see what he was getting into. It was a silver Vovlo that sure beat the shit out of the red Chevy truck that I was going to get when I was legal. The old thing could barely take sixty. I got in on the side opposite Alice, so we sat in the backseat together. Edward turned his head to give her, not us, a questioning look.
"They are meeting us there," she quickly responded. He nodded and backed out of the garage. It was awkward with his head turned toward my direction, even though I was fully aware that he was looking out his rearview window and certainly not me.
When we weren't in reverse anymore, I almost sighed with relief that he turned around to look at where he was driving. It was too strange to even have him facing me. Alice giggled at what I assumed must have been my facial expressions. Edward, I'm sure, did not catch on to Alice presumed comedy.
We pulled up at a mall that was unfamiliar to me. Not because I didn't live here, but because the stores were way to high-end for me to afford. Wal-mart all the way! This mall had stores like Guess, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Buckle. The infamous stores that sold jeans for over one hundred dollars were the only ones in this mall. I hoped, no I prayed, to God that Alice wasn't actually planning to buy me anything. But against my wishes, I knew that she would. Her father was, after all, a rich doctor and I had no money. Surely she wouldn't have brought me here, had she intended for me to buy something. I looked around, taking my surroundings my eyes wide with amazement.
"Umm… Alice?" I began, unsure of exactly what to say.
"Yes, Bella?"
"You know I can't afford anything here right?" I opened my wallet toward her, containing a single ten dollar bill, as if to prove my point. My one single piece of cash might be able to buy me a stick of gum here, if I was lucky. She chuckled, and I think I might have actually seen Edward crack a smile.
"I know that, silly. I was going to pay for it. Well actually my dad is… but, you get it."
"Okay, so are we going to meet someone here or what?" I asked.
"Later," she replied. "Right now this is all about you and your… serious fashion emergency." I rolled my eyes after her back was turned. "I saw that! Now, let's go." She pulled me toward the mall, and I'm pretty sure caught the expression of fear in my eyes.
At least the first store she pulled me in was something that wasn't too bad. A name I recognized, Victoria's Secret.
"Wait outside Edward," she told him as she dragged me further into the store. "Alright. Well, I figured you'd need some sweatpants and, you know, basics, like pajamas. So we start here." She pushed me into a dressing room and began throwing all sorts of things at me, like tank tops, bras, sweatpants… and the list goes on.
"Did I get your size right? You ok Bella?" she asked from outside the door.
"Fine. Fine."
"Well, put on something decent because I'm going to come in." I slid a pair of sweatpants and a tank top over the bra I was trying on and opened the door. Alice walked in and closed it behind her. "Cute," she said, motioning to what I was wearing. "What else looked good?" I sifted through the various articles of clothing strewn about the dressing room and handed the good things to her. "Wow, I'm disappointed Bella. I was expecting for you to get more." She grabbed a few more things that I thought were to small and revealing, but did fit. "These too."
"Where am I going to wear them? All I wear around the house is tank tops and sweatpants anyway."
"You never know," was her only reply. She went to pay as I changed back to my original clothes. She handed me the bag as I walked out.
"I bought you some perfume too." I sighed. She truly would never stop.
We spent the rest of our time mostly buying jeans and tee shirts. They weren't the shirts I wanted, but they were ok. Alice made sure that they were all v-neck with little details like open-backs or slits in the sleeves. The jeans were the most expensive. She bought me brand I recognized, like Miss Me, MEK, BKE, Rock Revival, but never once even remotely believed I would ever own.
It would have been an understatement to say that she, or at least her dad, was generous.
Finally, when I believed we were all done, Alice let me stop shopping to eat lunch. She got a salad and I got a burger with fries. I don't think it was a coincidence that she was so much smaller than me.
"Well, now that we have that all taken care of," Alice said, while attempting to eat a bite of her chicken salad, "it's time to meet Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie."
"When will they be here?"
"Soon," she replied. "We're meeting them inside Guess. Rosalie loves that store." I nodded. "I think you might like something there too Bella."
"Oh yeah, because I want to do so much more shopping." Either Alice didn't catch the sarcasm in my voice or just decided to respond to it anyway.
"Good!" She squealed. "Because we are going to be here a lot longer!" I think Edward might have smiled his stupid, slim line of a grin. As I finished the food I had in front of me, Alice pulled me up. She trusted me to follow her, so walked into the store in front of me.
I was roughly pulled aside and pushed up against a wall by two large hands. I would have screamed had I not recognized his eyes.
"Edward!" I squeaked. "What the-,"
"Don't talk," he quickly cut me off. "You listen here Bella." I hated the way he spat my name. "Don't just expect to walk into my life and think that everyone will accept you. I. Will. Not. Ever. Think anything of you. You aren't anything in my family." I winced as he roughly pushed me harder.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
"If you were sorry, you'd leave. Get out of my life." He relented his grip on me and followed Alice into the store. I stayed still there momentarily, holding myself together. I would have to save my tears for later.
A/N: Alright... and the threats begin. So, what do you think? Was it absolutely terrible?
If I don't get 20 reviews, I won't update. End of story. Sorry, I know that's harsh, but with busy schedules and stuff, it isn't worth it to me otherwise.
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