Chapter 3

"Beelllllaaa!" Alice screeched when I stepped out of my new, old beat-up Chevy in the school parking lot. I waved over to her and reached in to retrieve my book-bag. It only took mere seconds for her to be next to me, from the other end of the lot. She was always quick, but I dismissed the odd thoughts that arose in my head about her speed, strength, and uncanny ability to predict the weather. It was nice to be prepared for abhorrent snow or rain.

"Prom is only four months away and we do not have dresses yet!" Alice chirped on our way to our first period English class. Four months was quite a long time I thought to myself, but Alice was very big on being prepared and loved any excuse to go shopping.

"I'll help you pick one out, but I'm not going to prom, Alice." I said, waiting for her to freak out.

"Like I need your sense of fashion to help me out!" she huffed. "And yes, you are going. Even if I have to hire you a date, you're going. DON'T try to fight me on this, Bells. We are going to Port Angeles tonight and both of us will leave with a dress for a date four months from now." I sighed because I knew Bella Swan would not be attending the prom with or without a date, whether Alice Cullen wanted me to or not.

"Alice, you won't have to hire a date for Bella." Mike interrupted hopefully as he approached us in the parking lot. "Bella, I was going to wait, but um, I was just thinking, maybe you, um would you like to go to prom with me?" No. I wasn't going to prom, but I hadn't expected to be asked by anyone so I was afraid of turning him down I didn't want to hurt Mike's feelings.

"Oh, Mike. I really don't plan on going. It's not my thing, you know? You should ask Jessica! I know she would be dying to go with you, although you better not tell her I said that." I hoped it worked, my attempt at swatting away this males attention.

It worked, Mike seemed content with the new direction his prom night would take months from now. Why anyone cared this much in advance was beyond me. The rest of the day went by slowly, as I was dreading the trip Alice and I would be making to Port Angeles after school. I drove home through the inevitable rain falling from the dark cloudy skies, Alice told me by the time we left the rain would stop so I wouldn't have to carry along a rain coat. That would just slow our shopping spree down, she couldn't have that. After grabbing a snack, I heard Alice let herself into the house Charlie and I cohabited. She declined my offer to get her a granola bar, she always did.

"You don't mind if Jazz comes with us do you?" she asked.

"Of course not, is he going to get a tux for prom?"

"Oh, I never thought of that, I guess he can." she said, it wasn't like Alice to not think of something like that. Something was up, but I dismissed it as anything essential. "Edward's going too. We're using his car, it will be less conspicuous in that small city then my bright yellow Porcshe." Her taste in cars, taste in everything actually was vibrant. Her whole family had expensive cars, and Edward's fit in the most in the small town of Forks. I never talked to Edward unless we had a lab to do in class. His hateful glare was what always came to mind when I thought of him, and the only words I said to him out of class were "put me down" when he so rudely thought he was helping me.

"Hello Bella," Jasper said from the front seat as I slid in the back behind the driver's seat. His words were innocent, but his countenance looked as if he was in immense pain by my very presence. Alice took her seat behind Jasper, and began rattling on about her day.

"It was cute when Mike asked you to Prom." Alice recalled.

"Prom is four months away." Jasper said, turning to look at us with a smirk on his flawless face. "Is he desperate?"

"Well, Bella is a catch. He's been infatuated with her since he first saw her, everyone has." Alice said in pitiful Mike's defense as Edward pushed the Volvo's accelerator further to the floor.

"Doesn't matter, I'm not going anyway. Sorry Alice. I don't even have money for a dress." Edward peeked at me in the rearview mirror, instead of the icy, slick highway that led us to Port Angeles.

"Don't be silly, Bella. I'll buy you a dress since I'm forcing you into this." Alice and Edward exchanged a peculiar glance, he nodded after a brief moment of locking eyes with her. I was frustrated that Alice was so determined to make me go to Prom, it only brought up painful memories that I had endeavored to repress. My phone began to vibrate against my leg. After Alice had to help me retrieve it from my pants pocket I observed it was a private caller, that should've tipped me off but I answered it anyways.

"Hey it's me, Kev.." The all to familiar voice came over the speaker.

"I'm sorry you have the wrong number." And I hung up. My hands became clammy in the cold temperature of the car and I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my throat. Edward, Jasper and Alice all looked at me with confused and worried expressions as I began to hyperventilate. My head pounded deafeningly in my ears as it struggled to repel the memories the voice provoked. Alice grabbed my hand and rubbed the backside of it with her cool hand. I made the decision then to break off from the group when we were at the mall and find a cell phone store to get a new number.

"Bella?" Alice asked when she figured I had calmed down enough to be berated with shopping questions. "Who was that." I was wrong. Alice never questioned what upset me and this was unlike her. Maybe it was because the episodes of complete terror has begun to subside in her presence, but I was not ready to tell her why that voice had such an effect on my mind and my body.

"Wrong number, ha. I guess I get a little nervous when people call my phone I don't know." Terrible actress as I was, my pixie best friend seemed to buy the lie.

We arrived in Port Angeles shortly after the unforeseen phone call, and Alice dragged me into the nearest dress boutique inside the mall. She tried on dresses first and made Edward help Jasper find somewhere else to wander. Every dress she tried on looked picturesque on her petite frame. She finally decided to go with a deep purple, sleek floor length halter Gown. The Torso was covered in elegant jewels and her back and parts of her torso threw the intricate beading were exposed. There was a slit that led the viewers eye to mid-thigh of her slender yet muscular pale leg, she said that was for Jasper.

It was my turn next in the dressing room. Alice threw dresses over the door and made me try every single one on, until we came to the one as she called it. It was a navy blue charmeuse gown that flowed elegantly to the floor, hugging my silhouette to show every curve. My back would be shown off but people would be more distracted by the butterfly beading on the back. I walked out to show Alice and she hadn't warned me that the boys had grown tired of hours in the men's department. Alice was giddy, and asked me to turn this way and that. Edward sat in the chair next to the reject dresses and stared at me.

"I'll put your hair up with a dramatic poof and french twist in the back and it will complete the dress along with a pair of Jimmy Choos that are waiting in my closet to perfect this dress, what do you guys think?" I gaped at the thought of dancing in heels. This girl was trying to kill me. Not that I was going to let her drag me to prom, I shuddered at the thought but held my composure.

"Stunning." Edward said after scanning the dress some more. It was too over the top, and much too expensive for Alice to buy since it would never be worn.

"What dress did you get Alice?" Jasper asked as I snuck into the dressing room to remove myself from the dress.

"It's purple, and that's all you get to know! I need to go get shoes, hurry up Bella!" she hollered as I was coming out of the room.

"I'm going to go find a bathroom, I'll catch up with you at the shoe store." Alice eyed me suspiciously, then looked at Edward.

"I'll help you." he spoke up, not asking if I wanted help, just forcing it upon me again.

"No thanks, I can find it." and I stalked off in the direction of the AT&T I spied fleetingly as Alice dragged me through the crowded mall. I browsed the phones, checking out the latest models until someone offered me assistance. Edward had followed me regardless of my rejection.

"This is not the ladies room, although I guess I see how you could confuse the two." he said while I glared at him.

"Go away." I spat at him. The lady at the counter seemed available so I walked up to her, and despite my voiced demands, Edward followed me. "Hi, I need to change my cell phone number."

"Sure thing, what's your current number?" while she typed my old number into her computer Edward stared at me with questioning, beautiful eyes.

"Any preferences on a new one?" the lady asked and I shook my head as I passed her my cell phone.

"What's with the new number?" he asked.

"The old one was, well it was getting old. It's really not your business." I articulated. Around him I noticed I was acting like a stubborn child, but I didn't care because he just rubbed me the wrong way. The lady on the other side of the counter passed me back my cell phone and said the new number should be up and running in a few minutes.

We walked back in silence to the shoe store where Jasper sat grimly holding seven different boxes of shoes. Alice had two different shoes on and was holding a huge plastic bag that had her dress hanging slightly out of the bottom.

"We're back." Edward said, relieving Jasper of a few boxes.

"About time, Jazz I think I'll purchase the first pair I tried on those looked the best, don't you think?" Alice said. They eyed us suspiciously then she looked towards Edward, and they did the silent conversation thing again. Jasper went to buy the shoes for Alice, and when he returned they decided it was time to leave. Once we were in the car and headed back to Forks Alice asked me if she could stay at my place for the night.

"yeah, sure. Charlie loves you so I'm sure he won't mind." I answered her, this would be the first time I had a friend sleep over in a very long time.

"Great, I want to experiment with your make-up for prom." she said.

"Alice, it's four months away." I argued, and she simply shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not going to prom." The acid in my tone was detected by all in the car. And everyone looked at me, even Edward. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rude."

"It's okay Bella. We have months, doesn't mean we can't have fun tonight." I went along with it, upset that I let my emotions overtake me causing me to snap at my new best friend. Alice spent the rest of the evening, covering my face with make-up, washing it off, applying more, and repeating the process. She was dismayed when I told her I didn't bring any make-up with me from Phoenix and told her it was an intentional accident. Making my face attractive was not a goal of mine, I planned to be as inconspicuous in this town as being the police chief's daughter allowed.

I fell asleep before Alice, and the nightmares came back in full force that night. All my friends from Phoenix were in it, their bodies and faces distorted as if they were the subjects in a funhouse mirror. The boys were dressed in tuxes and the girls I used to claim as my friends were wearing dresses I helped them pick out. I stumbled into a dark room as the alcohol flowed through my body. Hands began to fondle me forcefully as I struggled to be free, but they pulled me down and his voice was all I could hear. "Izzie, come on."

Alice woke me up and was holding me until Charlie came into the room. His face was filled with disappointment, not at me for being unable to control myself while I had company, but because he thought the nightmares were gone and I was handling the pain better.

"Bella, you okay?" Alice whispered, she kept a calm face for me as I settled myself down. My heart was beating out of my chest. Charlie sat on the foot of the bed and placed his hand on my feet over the covers for extra comfort.

"You want to talk or go watch the Lion King, honey?" he asked and Alice gave him a sideways glance. "no, dad. I think I want to go back to sleep. It was over when Alice woke me up, I think it will be okay now. I'm really tired from being dragged around the mall with Alice."

Falling into a light sleep I could hear Alice and Charlie talking. Unaware if it was real or a dream I listened regardless.

"The first time we met she was having a panic attack." Alice told Charlie. I heard him sigh before he opened up to her.

"Before you two became friends these nightmares were an every night thing. The first night she came here though we went downstairs and watched her favorite movie from her childhood and we stayed up the rest of the night. But they slowly have decreased since she became friends with you. And I thank you for that. I think I know what triggered tonight's, though."

"What?" Alice asked Charlie, sincerely curious.

"The prom shopping." Charlie said, "She had a bad experience before she came here, really bad. I would tell you, but she doesn't want anyone to know. She didn't even fill me in until she moved here."

"Do you think she will tell me, I want to be there for her when she needs me. I didn't mean to upset her today, if I had known Char" Charlie interrupted her telling her it wasn't her fault. He told her was going to go back to sleep and that she should too. And they said goodbye. But the conversation didn't stop there. This was a different dream then I was accustomed too.

"I heard her screaming, the surrounding woods are clear what's going on?" the beautiful voice asked Alice with panic wrapped thickly in his words.

"Nightmare. I woke her up, the screaming was while she was asleep. Apparently that happened often before we became friends. Charlie said it had something to do with the prom shopping. Oh, Edward I can't believe I didn't catch on to her disapproval of prom at first. I just wanted to keep her safe from them, they were here tonight. My vision.. Well you saw it."

"She'll tell you when and if she is ready Alice. Just relax on prom for a while." Edward reassured and warned his small pixie like sister in the same sentence.

"But, I know she is going to be there, that hasn't changed." she paused, "And you have a marvelous time by the way." and the dream conversation ended as I drifted away into an empty dream.

A/N- Reviews please, i have the next few chapters planned out, but i will take suggestions, they're in the editing process right now. Thanks to all of those who have favorited/alerted my story :) hope you enjoy it.