The Definition of 'Portal'

—n, a door, gate, or entrance, esp. one of imposing appearance, as to a palace.

All things Twilight related belong to Stephanie Meyer

I stared at the bowl of yogurt in front of me and swirled the berries in it, not really paying attention to what I was doing.

All I wanted to really do was look around the cafeteria, but I refrained.

This was the first time I had woken up before ten since being here. It was slightly strange to see the sun in its position in the sky, because I usually only saw it was when the big ball of light was straight over head or setting. The morning birds were chirping and the weather was sunny, following the pattern it had been all week.

I should be outside enjoying the nice day, but I couldn't leave until I saw her again. I had done the same thing yesterday. I woke up bright and early, not knowing when Bella came to breakfast, but I figured she might be one of the first ones up. I got my food and waited. She never showed.

I was determined that today was going to be different.

When I asked Alice where Bella was, she would just shrug. It sounded like everyone was covering for this girl, because I couldn't get one piece of information. It was almost as if they were all scared of Bella, but they would talk about her in the highest regard and comment on how awesome she was. I wanted to know her like that.

Maybe I should be institutionalized for stalking. Is that a mental health issue?

I hadn't even seen Bella since the first initial eye-fuck, which was three days ago. What was she doing all the time? Where was she hiding? Where was her room? Those were the questions I tried to answer in my head as I sat at the table.

"What's up?" Emmett scooted a chair out from next to me and sat down with a thud. His plate was filled with all kinds of greasy breakfast foods, but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at his body. He resembled a man worked out constantly, which was kind of true.

"Nothing," I answered and took a bite of my yogurt.

"You're up early." Jasper sat on my other side.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night," I lied.

"Are you sure you weren't trying to scope out Bella?" Emmett laughed.

"Is there a fucking sticker on my forehead?"

"No, but we can tell. You keep asking about her. She'll talk to you when she wants to."

"I just want to say hi." I shrugged.

Emmett said something, but I couldn't understand him because there was so much food in his mouth. I just nodded.

"Where has she been all this time?" I asked.

"Alice said she's been in her room."

I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to think about what information I could get out of them without being nosy. Nothing came to mind that wasn't glaringly obvious.

Alice and Rosalie joined us a couple of minutes later. They were chatting about movie night, which I guessed was a big deal, but I wasn't really listening. I was still searching for Bella.

Finally, after our plates were empty and we just sat around, I saw a flash of pink come through the door at the far end. She was alone this time, and her hair was in a ponytail, but it was it was still pretty long. Her Superman pants were back along with her frog slippers, although, she had a different shirt. Today's variety was a simple red one with the Rolling Stones logo. She disappeared through the food line.

"Oh, look. Bella's here," Alice noticed.

"She cheated at poker last night," Emmett snarled.

"Wait, you guys played poker?" I sat up in my seat.

"Uh, yeah." He shrugged.

"Why wasn't I invited?" I said, not annoyed that I wasn't included but more pissed that I wasn't introduced to Bella yet.

They all mumbled a different answer.

I looked back at the food line where Bella was coming out with a small apple in her hands. It seemed like that was the only thing she was going to be eating. I thought she was going to walk back out of the door again, but she surprisingly started her way over to our table.

I felt like I was about to ask a girl out to the prom. My heartbeat quickened, and I could feel the heat course through my body. It was getting very hot in here.

I watched the sway of Bella's hips as she glided closer. She took a bite of the apple. Her lips were the perfect proportion to take a large chunk. It was tantalizing.

"Hi, Bella." Emmett waved.

"Hi," she replied in a chime-like voice. It was soft and strong at the same time, but shy as well.

"Did you come to eat with us today?" Alice asked.

She turned to Jasper, completely ignoring me. "No, I came to see if I could borrow your guitar."

"Sure. Are you getting any good?"

"No, not really, but I'm trying." She rolled her eyes.

I didn't know how it felt from everyone else's perspective, but this was very awkward to me. Bella was purposefully not looking my way, and was even going as far as to angle away from my seat. She was acting like I wasn't even here.

Alice's eyes were frantically looking between Bella and me. They were moving so fast that I thought they might fall out of their sockets.

"When can we hear you play?" Emmett asked her.

"I can make one chord and that's it so… never," Bella joked and took another bite of her apple. I was getting jealous of that piece of fruit.

Slow down there, Ed.

"Anything else happening in life?" Rose crossed her arms on the table.

"Nope. Just chillin'," Bella mumbled through a mouthful. With Emmett, he made talking with a full mouth disgusting. Bella made it cute.

"So, have you met the new guy?" Alice nodded towards me. "This is Edward."

I felt the need to stand up, so that's what I did and held out my hand. I stupidly stood there for a second. She turned to look at me, but didn't do anything. She continued to chew on her apple. Her eyes went from my face to my hand, and did the same thing again.

Bella completely ignored meand turned back to Jasper. "So, I can come by later to pick up the guitar?"

"Uh, sure."

"Thanks." She smiled and started to walk off, tossing the apple in the trashcan near our table.

I kept standing there at a loss of what to say.

"That was… so embarrassing for you," Emmett snickered.

"Yeah, it was," Rosalie agreed. "Poor Edward was shot down."

"I was just trying to be nice." I sat back in my seat with a huff.

"It just takes her a long time to get to know you." Alice patted my back. "It took me months to wear her down."

Months? Shit.

I didn't want to wait that long, and I sure as hell didn't have the tenacity that Alice possessed. I just wanted to get to know this Bella. She seemed like a cool chick.

"She's just warming up to you." Emmett nodded.

We continued to talk, and I tried to keep my mind focused on the conversation. I didn't even notice what time it was until I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned around and saw Carlisle standing behind me with a smile.

"Oh, hi," I said.

Before he had the chance to reply, Alice threw herself at him, wrapping her small arms around his neck.

He caught her and laughed, "Nice to see you too, Alice."

"I was wondering where you've been. I haven't seen you in days," she said when he put her back down on the ground.

"I came to see you yesterday."

"I know, but still." She sat in her seat.

"Hello, all." He waved at us collectively. "I was actually coming to get Edward. I think he forgot about our session."

"Shit." I looked at the clock, and sure enough, I was ten minutes late. "Sorry."

"No problem."

"I'll see you guys later." I got up from my chair and threw my trash away before following Carlisle to his office.

He held the door open for me, and I went into the large room. It was light and not stuffy, like I thought it should be. Carlisle went to Harvard. I expected him to be highly pretentious or arrogant, but he wasn't. His office reflected the cool therapist with its tan walls and soft carpet. There was a long green couch that he said was just for ascetics. You could lay on it if you wanted, but it wasn't required.

"So, how are you today?" He sat in his seat. I sat in the one opposite his desk.

"Fine."

"Good, you're not freaked out yet, are you?" He searched through the drawers for a pen.

"No I'm fine. Everyone's very nice, and it's been interesting."

He gave me an eye that told me I was being examined. "You're holding back today."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You're not as relaxed as you were the first session."

"Oh." I shrugged.

"You're giving me answers I want to hear. What's going on?"

"Yeah, well, I was wondering about how I was supposed to get close to some of the patients. I don't want to step on anyone's toes and it's kind of hard to judge what's appropriate to say," I replied. That was a general enough statement, one that would also provide me some insight into getting at Bella.

"That's a very good question." He thought for a second. "Well, most of the patients are rational enough to realize that you're all in the same boat. They aren't as abrasive as the others who don't quite understand where they are. Anyone in the general population, you can pretty much talk to and have conversations with."

"General population as in…"

"As in, anyone who's walking around. Those are the ones who are fine. If you ever meet someone who you've never seen before, you probably shouldn't be talking to them, although, we keep a tight lock on those certain patients."

"So, just to clarify, if a patient goes to… say meals, then they're okay to talk to?"

"Yes." He nodded. "What's this about? You sound very eager to get information."

"It's nothing. I've just started making friends, and I would like to branch out."

"I saw you sitting with Alice and the rest of them. Those are a good bunch to hang around. Anyone else catch your eye?"

Yes!

"No."

He nodded. "Alright, well let's get down to your session. We're going to start from the beginning."

"The beginning?"

"Yes, tell me about yourself."

"Isn't all of that in my file?"

"Well, yes, but I would like to hear it for you. Tell me about your family."

I sighed and tried to think back as far as I could. "Well, my father was a good man. He provided for my mother and I…"

"Okay, let me stop you right there."

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, but you keep telling me what I want to hear. Your answers are very calculated."

"But you asked me about my family."

"And you immediately told me how wonderful your father was. Did you expect me to think that he was a horrible man?"

"Uh…" I didn't know how to answer that.

"I'm not here to judge you."

"I know that. I just don't understand what I'm supposed to say. I had a regular life. My parents loved each other, they treated me right, I went to school; I got a good job. I'm not supposed to be here."

"There." Carlisle pointed at me.

"What?"

"That's what I was trying to get at. Do you think that the only reason people are in here is because they've gone through some kind of traumatic experience?"

"Well, yes."

"You have to understand that people are here for a variety of reasons. Many have gone through horrible things, but a lot of them had the same kind of life you did. Scientifically, your disease usually occurs when a person has had a childhood experience that they're trying to get away from. They use the dissociative disorder to hide from the real world."

"I thought I had multiple personality disorder."

"Well, it's basically the same thing. As you have said many times, you don't have that problem of needing to get away from a horrible world, so we need to figure out what the issue really is."

"But why me?"

"I can't answer that, Edward. Not yet anyway."

That seemed to be my breaking point. I kind of understood what Carlisle was getting at, and I wasn't in any position to argue with him. We continued to talk for about an hour. It wasn't like a normal session where you have to fight the clock. Carlisle just asked me questions, and I would answer them as best as I could. I didn't feel like I was being put under a microscope or anything so it was easy. I took several pills, which was now my regular routine.

"Alright, well, next time we'll try to introduce you to the group."

"Is group therapy easier?" I asked when I was at the door.

"Some find it easier to get their issues out if they have someone else to talk to. Have you tried the art or music therapy classes?"

"No, not yet."

"See what you make of those and we'll talk about them later."

"Alright."

"Okay, then. Good job today." He patted me on the back and then went to go sit back at his desk.

I left the office, feeling better. I didn't know if that was because I had talked or because Carlisle just made you feel that way, but it was as if a weight had been lifted. It would probably be back before I went to sleep.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and walked with my head down. I didn't know where I was going, but it didn't really matter. I just kept trekking through the halls.

Like there was a tracking chip on my ass, Alice skipped to my side almost instantly. Jasper was running to catch up with her.

"Hi, Edward," she giggled.

"Hi, Alice. You seem happy."

"I just painted another picture. You want to see it?"

Jasper was on my other side. "She just woke up from a nap," he whispered to me.

I nodded in understanding.

"I'll see it later, Alice," I told her.

"Alright. Are you coming to movie night?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Please, it could be fun," she pleaded.

"They're screening an old James Bond," Jasper said.

"Even the prospect of an action flick isn't enough to get me out tonight," I chuckled.

"Bella's going to be there," he replied nonchalantly.

I stopped walking, thinking I hadn't heard him correctly.

"Wait, wait." Alice stopped as well and stood in front of me. "What does that mean?"

"What?"

"Would you go if Bella was there?" Alice eyed me.

"I don't know."

She squinted and tilted her head. "Come with me." Alice took my hand, and I had to run to keep up with her quick feet. She was like a fucking Chihuahua.

Jasper followed us and didn't say a word as we climbed the stairs.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To my room," she replied.

When we were on the second floor, she raced down the hallway. The doors passed us by, and she stopped in front of one that was painted bright yellow. It had flowers on it and looked completely out of place. She pushed it open, and I almost though that I had stepped into a Mardi Gras storing closet.

There was tons of color everywhere. I didn't know what to look at first. The room was about the same size as mine. The walls were painted a light purple color; there were pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn tacked everywhere, and a pinball machine was situated in the corner. There was a lot of glitter and flowers and… everything.

"Wow," was the only thing I could mutter as I looked around.

"I know it's kind of a mess, but I don't usually stay in here. I just use it for storage." She started throwing things around, obviously searching for something.

"Where do you sleep?"

"With Jasper."

Alice stopped moving and started laughing uncontrollably. She sat on the bed when she couldn't breathe anymore.

"What's so funny?" I asked Jasper. He was sitting in a chair, reading something and shrugged. It seemed like this was commonplace.

"I didn't mean to say that I sleep with Jasper. I do sleep with Jasper, but that's not what I meant. I stay in Jasper's room."

"Is that allowed?"

"What is with you and rules?" Jasper's nose scrunched up.

"I like to follow them."

"It's not like we're here because we love to conform to society. Might as well live it up," Alice replied. There was a slight twinge of evilness in her voice.

"Huh," I said. I wanted to back out of the room slowly and not cause any problems.

Alice sobered up and went back to searching for whatever.

I was too scared to touch anything. I thought something might shoot me in the face with sparkles.

"Where are those stupid things?" Alice was now sticking out of her closet, throwing shoes and books backwards.

"What are you looking for, babe?" Jasper asked.

"My stupid tarot cards. I know they're in here somewhere."

"Maybe you left them outside. Wasn't that the last place you used them?"

"I don't remember." She dug deeper. "Oh, wait. Here they are! Ah ha ha ha ha."

Alice reemerged with a stack of thick cards that were wrapped in a ribbon.

"Are you going to read my future?" I chuckled.

"She's not very good." Jasper sat on her bed cross-legged, followed by Alice.

"I am so." She hit his arm. "I know what I'm doing."

They both looked at me expectantly.

"What?"

"You're supposed to complete our circle." She made a gesture to the empty spot on the bed.

I climbed on and sat down so that we were seated with a large space in between us but our knees were touching.

"Oh, wait. I have to get my astrology chart." Alice stood up on the bed and ripped a poster from the wall that had constellations on it.

"You're a real ball of energy, aren't you?" I observed.

"You've only seen the half of it." She sat back down. "Okay, let's get started."

"Alice, don't you think that you should review the rules first?" Jasper suggested.

"I know how to use my own cards."

I quickly found out that Alice had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She started laying out the cards like we were about to play poker, and then realized her mistake, grabbing them back up. She laid them out in front of us so that I couldn't see the pictures on other side.

She asked me what my sign was, when my birthday was—things like that. I was confused as hell, but she claimed to know what she was doing.

"I wonder what this means." Alice turned a card over in her hands and looked at it inquisitively. "It must not be important." She threw it on the floor.

Jasper and I just sat there quietly because there was nothing we could do to convince her that she was a horrible card reader.

"Alright, I've got it," she squealed. "According to your sign and all the bullshit like that, this is your card." She handed it to me.

"I don't think you did this right."

"Just look at it," she snapped.

"Alright, alright." The card was light blue and had an angel on it. There was a red heart on the angel's chest and that was it.

"Okay, what does this mean?" I asked.

"That's your fate card. It goes with this one." Alice searched through the messy pile and pulled out a green card with angel wings.

"So?"

"This is Bella's card." She grinned.

I rolled my eyes and let out a deep breath.

Jasper was snoring on the bed, and I starting to think that he had the right idea.

"Can I go now?" I started to get off of the bed.

She scowled. "Oh, fine. One day you'll see that I was right." Alice started to gather up her things.

I don't know why I did it, but I decided to keep the two cards that she had given me. I didn't feel like putting them down for some reason. I went to my room and made sure to find out what time movie night started. I convinced myself that it wasn't anything more than me just wanting to get out of the bed.

I took a quick nap, remembering to set my alarm clock for dinner. When it went off, I jumped out of bed and ran to the cafeteria. Only Jasper and Emmett were there, but I ate with them kind of quickly so that I could get a good spot for movie night. I was like an eager schoolboy, and it was slightly disturbing.

Emmett, Jasper, and I walked outside and through the campus until we got to another building. This was the rec center, and it had all kinds of awesome things inside. On this particular occasion, we got in the elevator and went up to the third floor where the theater was.

It was just like a regular movie theater, but there weren't as many chairs. A large section was filled with beanbags and things like that where you could sit on the floor. That's where Alice and Rosalie were.

"You got the best seats." Emmett ran and tackled Rosalie so that she fell backwards onto the beanbags. They were in an entanglement of limbs for a while.

I sat on the end as the theater started to fill up and wondered how I should act around Bella when—if—she got here.

I decided to just be polite. No one can fight courtesy.

"Hand me some candy," Jasper said to Emmett.

"You want anything, Edward?" he asked me. I shook my head.

I don't know where all of this was coming from, but Alice and Rosalie had amassed a mountain of sweets that was laid out in front of us. We had gotten there about half an hour early, so there was still time before the movie started. I wasn't really expecting her to come, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Bella walking down one of the aisles towards us.

Always the non-conformer, she was dressed in the pink scrubs, but had a dark blue baseball cap on her head. It had the Superman logo right at the top. The pink of her hair was bright, but dulling, against the brown, and even though I had only seen this girl maybe twice, she was quickly becoming a fascination. She was carrying the largest tub of popcorn I had ever seen. It was almost as big as her entire torso.

Jacob flanked her like a guard dog as they walked closer.

"Sit here and don't move." Jacob pushed her into a beanbag chair, which was right next to mine. I got a big whiff of her shampoo, which smelled like a new car. I know, strange, but that's the only way I could describe it.

"Bastard," Bella's said under her breath.

"What did you just say?" Jacob spun around quickly before he walked off.

"I said you were a bastard. What are you going to do about it?" She got very defensive.

Jacob ground his teeth together and just stomped away, muttering to himself.

"Great entrance," Jasper called from down the line.

"He is a bastard." Bella dug into the massive popcorn tub, crunching on it.

"I'm glad you came, though." Rosalie smiled. It was the first time I had ever seen a genuine emotion from her other than… bitchiness. Was that an emotion?

Bella was no less than a couple inches away from me, and the air became stuffy again. I didn't know if I should speak first or what, but I didn't think she was going to take the initiative. Everyone went back to their own conversations while Bella, and I sat there twiddling our thumbs. She didn't seem nervous or nearly as anxious as I did. We waited for the movie to start, and I let out a deep breath, preparing to take the plunge.

"I'm Edward." I held out my hand. "I think we met this morning."

She continued to munch on popcorn and looked at me like I was supposed to say something more.

"Uh, you're Bella?" I asked stupidly.

She still didn't say anything. It was like I wasn't even here. She was looking right through me while still chewing on that damned popcorn. Once again, I was becoming jealous of the food that was touching her lips.

What the fuck, Edward?

"I'm new here so I was trying to be friendly." I lowered my hand that I suddenly realized was still outstretched.

She raised her eyebrows. "You're extremely awkward and annoying."

That was all Bella said before she took her popcorn and got up from the cushion. She went down the line to sit next to Emmett.

I just sat there like an idiot.

"Shot down for the second time," Jasper chuckled in my ear. I shoved him hard, and he fell over laughing his ass off.

The movie started, and I was trying to watch it, but I was too busy being pissed about the encounter that I had just been through. What is wrong with her? It's obvious that she's messed up because I did nothing wrong. She just couldn't have the decency of a normal human being and reply to a question I asked.

Well, then fine. I wasn't going to try and prove that we should be friends. I didn't even know this girl. Why the hell would I want to be friends?

Stupid, stupid, stupid…

About halfway through the movie, I felt that someone was staring at me.

I shifted my head and found Bella, still in her spot next to Emmett, but she was turned to look directly at me. She was eating her popcorn as if I was the main show, shamelessly gazing at me without any indication that it might be slightly unnerving.

I just sat there and wondered if she really was looking at me.

For the rest of the movie, Bella sat and didn't even blink. She watched me and continued to eat like there was nothing strange about this.

What the hell is wrong with this girl?

When the lights went up in the theater, she stood and dusted off her hands.

"Alright, well it was fun." Bella fixed the hat on her head. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She started to walk away without a second look back.

"I liked that movie," Emmett said.

"Did no one see that she was starting at me the whole time?" I asked as we made our way out of the theater. There was no sign of Bella anywhere.

"She does that all the time," Rosalie scoffed. "It's no big thing."

"It was so weird." I shuddered.

"Don't take it personally. She just doesn't like you." Jasper threw and arm over my shoulders.

"And how am I not supposed to take that personally?"

"I don't know. That's just what people say in these situations."

I was still searching for Bella on our walk back. I was planning on asking her what the hell was going on. I wasn't just letting this slip by.

As I went down the hallway towards my room, a loud sound reverberated off of the walls.

"What the fuck is all of that?" I asked myself.

I followed the sound that I realized was Copacabana by Barry Manilow. Who the hell listens to Barry Manilow? I eavesdropped at the door of each one I passed, but they were all silent.

I found the culprit and I should have known already, but it didn't click with me until I saw the Superman logo on the door.

"Bella," I said the name with disdain and a little bit of annoyance.

I put my ear to the door again, listening to the song play loudly as if there wasn't anyone else living here. It was a thousand decibels too loud. I figured that this was a common occurrence with this place. Bella playing music loudly was only a small piece of the puzzle that I was going to piece together.

I knocked a couple of times. I didn't know what I was planning on doing or saying if she opened the door. I didn't care. I just wanted to tell her that I didn't appreciate her brush off earlier in the night. I had suddenly grown some balls.

I knocked louder, but there was still nothing.

"What are you doing?" Rosalie asked from behind me.

"I'm trying to see Bella. I have a bone to pick with her." I banged this time.

"You can't go in there." She stood in front of me.

"You see I haven't gone it yet. I'm knocking like a polite person would do."

"Just go away." Rosalie started pushing me down the hall. "And don't come back."

"I can at least talk to her," I protested.

"No, you can't. Just keep your nose in your own business." She continued to push me, and I looked over my shoulder at the Superman sign that was getting smaller as I went further.

"What's going on in there?" I pointed behind me.

"Nothing. That's Bella's room and you're never to go in there. Do you hear me? Never."

Bella was becoming more of an itch that I needed to scratch. What was really going on? Her room was like a secret portal that was now calling my name. I wanted to get in there and see what she was hiding. I had never been an annoyingly nosy person, but Bella was making me feel extremely uneasy. I didn't understand it.

"Just go to bed." Rosalie shoved me in front of my door. I had noticed that I wasn't that far from Bella. "I mean it, Edward, and leave her room alone."

"Fine." I threw my hands up in the air.

Rosalie waited for me to go into my room, tapping her foot on the floor. "Goodnight, Edward."

"Goodnight." I offered her a half smile before opening my door, but my mind surely wasn't ready to sleep yet.

A/N:

My, my, my. Another piece is added to the Bella Puzzle. We shall get more peeks into Bella as the chapters progress. Our Edward is already fascinated with her, isn't he? It's very funny to me that he's so normal even in this insane place. And what about Alice? What a hoot.

So anyway, thanks to everyone who is reading and adding to faves and giving me reviews so that I know how you like this. I know it's a different kind of story, but I'm trying to make it also to Suzie55 and Jeny0719 for the reading and beta. They know i loves them.

I will update again on Wednesday for the second time of the week. I don't know about the other days since I'm going away for Thanksgiving and won't have forget to follow me on twitter so that you can see when I update and things like that(at) johnnyboy1029

Leave me a review so I'll know how ya like.

That's all for today. Johnyboy out!