Disclaimer: Once again, everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer!

I'm sorry everyone! I know this chapter took a while, but I've had a lot on lately. I've had homework, tests, rehearsals after rehearsals… Hopefully the next chapter will be a lot faster! Anyway, enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter Four:

The first thing I noted was how big the room was. In fact, it was HUGE! It was probably as big as the whole bottom floor of my house. The walls were white, and the ceilings had intricate designs on them. A big chandelier dangled from the middle of a floral circle that was imprinted in the middle of the ceiling, over the polished wooden floors. My attention was then immediately drawn to the two stunning figures standing by the stairs. They were both smiling warmly at me as I studied their perfect features. How could there be so many people in the world as God-like as this family? They shared the same snow-white skin and dark bruise-like shadows under their eyes; I should've been used to it by now, but I was struck by the beauty of whom I assumed to be Alice's parents. They could easily have been two of her older siblings.

The man started to walk towards me, a warm smile still etched upon his lips, leaving his wife behind him with what seemed to be an apologetic smile.

"Bella, this is my dad Carlisle" Alice stood to one side, beaming at me. What a happy family, I thought. They never seemed to stop smiling… with one exception, of course.
Carlisle was so beautiful he was beyond words.

Carlisle took my hand, and gave me a friendly handshake. "Hello Bella. We've been told a lot about you. Welcome to our home."

It took me a while to answer, "Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Cullen". He seemed more like a model than a father, I concluded.

"Please, call me Carlisle" He walked towards the staircase and gestured to the goddess standing there, "This is my wife, Esme". Esme was just as breath taking with her caramel-coloured hair and heart-shaped face. I also noticed how both hers and Carlisle's eyes were the same golden colour as Alice's. How peculiar.

Esme smiled the same apologetic smile, "Hello Bella. I'm sorry, I have to go and do the washing" Esme hurried off up the stairs before I could blink.

"Oh" Was it something I said? I then felt something nudge me in the ribs, "Come on Bella! Let's go study!" Alice took my hand and led me up the stairs, which led to a long corridor with many doors leading to it. One of the doors was half open, and as Alice dragged me along, I glanced in. The whole back wall of the room was glass, which over-looked the forest. There was a leather couch in the corner, and a big stack of CDs that took up the whole wall. My breath caught in my throat and my heart hammered against my ribcage when I realised who was standing in front of the bookcase, looking at me with a gaze I wasn't used to. Instead of the furious look, Edward was now looking at me with curiosity. Instinctively, I stopped walking and pulled my hand out of Alice's to continue to look at this mesmerizing boy. Before I could continue breathing, Alice grabbed my hand again and pulled me along behind her. "Bella! We have lots of studying to do" I allowed her to haul me down the corridor while my mind tried to untangle all its thoughts and questions. Why was Edward looking at me like that? Why wasn't he angry at me anymore? What made him change his mind? Before I could answer any of these questions, Alice led me into a giant study.

Every wall was blanketed in books and shelves. I didn't know so many books existed. There was a mahogany desk in the centre of the room with a single, old-fashioned green lamp sitting to one side.

"Woah", I gushed out.

"I'm sure that whatever book you need for your study, you can find it here!" Alice joked, as she set herself on the floor in front of the desk. She patted the space beside her, where I sat obediently.

"Um Alice…" I didn't know how to bring it up without seeming rude or intrusive. What if it was a touchy subject?

"Yes, Bella?" Alice didn't look up as she asked the question. She continued to get out her books and tried out different pens on her page.

"I was wondering…" I paused and pondered for a brief second on how to word what I was going to say. Without coming up with a good way, I ended up blurting, "did I offend your mum in any way? If I did, I didn't mean to. I mean, she just ran off and I didn't know if I did anything wrong or whatever. If there is anyway I can make it up to her, or apologise for what I did, Ill do it. But I just don't know what I did wrong so-"

"Bella! Stop" Alice interrupted me as her hand flew up in front of my face. "You're being ridiculous! My mum is fine, and you didn't do anything wrong, don't worry. You can relax. She's just not feeling well at the moment, and she finds washing very calming. She didn't want to give you what she's got, so she's keeping her distance"

"Oh. Did she catch it from Rosalie, your sister? I noticed she wasn't at school today either. Is she okay?"

"Oh! Yes, Rosalie did give her flu to Esme." Alice scribbled furiously on a blank page in her notebook, but the pen in her hand only carved invisible lines into the page. She sighed and threw the pen to the side.

I frowned. Something wasn't right. Alice was usually happy and bubby, but it seemed that something was bugging her. I decided to keep my mouth shut. It was obviously something she didn't want to talk about, and I didn't want to make Alice even more upset.

As I got out my homework, I felt like I had intruded into this household. No matter what Carlisle had said, I felt that I'd made things awkward with Alice's mum, which ranged to Edward's curious stare, and now Alice was acting weird.

I sighed and started on my English homework. Lord of the Flies essay. Very interesting. Not. I tried concentrating, but my mind kept wandering. Focus, I told myself. Despite what I told myself, my mind drifted off again. I wanted to meet Alice's sister. Maybe she could explain things to me. There was one thing I was sure of, and that was that Alice's family wasn't normal. They couldn't be. I'd never seen anything like this before, with so many good-looking people in one household, with constant smiling faces, the same pale skin and dark shadows under their eyes. They weren't even related! I couldn't sum up how it could work. Maybe it was the lifestyle they had in Forks. They could've had some chemical in their drinking water, or the weather could've been weird. But then there were their golden eyes. Surely a chemical couldn't turn someone's eyes gold? Maybe they all wanted gold eyes because they found it attractive, was it the fashion in forks? Maybe, maybe, maybe. Nothing's for sure, unless I ask. But as I glanced up at Alice's frustrated expression, I couldn't bring myself to ask her my many questions. I could seem rude, it could be none of my business. Or maybe, they really are a normal family, and I'm just using my wild imagination to muddle everything up.

All of a sudden, Alice stood up and made her way to the door, "I'll be right Bella. I just need to sort something out" As she was reaching for the doorknob, the door suddenly swung open, and I'm pretty sure I moaned, just from the pleasure of looking at him. Edward stood in the doorway, and he looked at me again with the same curious gaze. I hoped he hadn't heard my moan, as that would've been embarrassing. But after a second, he shifted his gaze to Alice's, and then his eyes looked like they were on fire. If I thought he'd looked at me angrily before, but that was nothing compared to how he was looking at Alice now.

"Alice. Come out here, now! We need to talk" He hissed at her through clenched teeth, and I swear I could see smoke coming out of his ears.

"Why Edward? Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Bella, too" Alice stood her ground, with her hands on her hips.

Edward raised one hand and put his fingers to his temple. "Alice, please. You don't know what you're doing"

I sat, rooted to the spot. What on earth were they talking about?

"No, Edward. I think we can trust her. She'll be around here a lot, believe me, I'd know! Plus, she deserves to know the truth"

That caught me off guard. This was about me? What had I done now? I sat, still as stone, and listened.

"Alice! We should at least discuss this with Carlisle" He stepped forward and reached for Alice's arm, but Alice dodged his grasp and sped around behind him, so she was blocking the doorway. My mouth dropped open. I had never seen someone move so fast. I didn't think it was possible.

Edward spun around, and I couldn't see his facial expression, but the sound of his teeth grinding together gave me the hint that it wasn't a happy one.

"Fine, Edward. I already know what he's going to say, and he agrees with me! He also trusts her, which you should as well! We can't hide these things from her forever. She'll find out eventually" Alice stood to one side, as Edward stormed out past her.

"Come on, Bella" Alice called to me, but I still couldn't move. My mouth still hung open, as I was shocked beyond belief.

I snapped my mouth shut and took in a deep breath. "W-w-was that about me?" I stammered. I didn't want to be the cause of any fights or arguments.

Alice walked over to me and held out her hand. "There are things you don't know about us Bella, and I think you need to know. Edward's a little touchy on the subject, but we're going to discuss it with Carlisle now" Should I take her hand? If she wasn't who I thought she was, should I trust her? What the heck, I thought. I'm already in her house, and I might as well find out what all this is about.

Alice pulled me up, and it was only when I was stumbling down the stairs that I noticed I was trembling. I was frightened. I was frightened of the argument in the study, the secret that was about to be revealed to me, frightened of Edward. I looked over at Alice, who turned to me and smiled. No, I wasn't frightened of Alice. I still believed she was the same confident, bubbly girl as who I'd met the first day back at school.

Alice squeezed my hand and whispered, "It's all going to be okay Bella". She led me across the big entrance room, and walked towards a big oak door. I could feel that there was something behind this door that would change my life and world as I knew it. As Alice reached for the door, I closed my eyes and remembered life as it is now. When I opened my lids, I looked into some of the furious faces of Alice's whole family, including the siblings who I'd never met.

Tell me what you think! Are you enjoying the story so far? If not, tell me how I can improve it to make it more enjoyable for you! Anyway, as I said before, I will work hard to get the next chapter out faster! I hope you enjoyed it!