Chapter 4: Decisions

I awoke with a start as Charlie pounded on my door mumbling something about being told I was an early riser. I shook my head and started getting ready; I was already dreading the day. Driving to school today though, I noticed the Volvo and realized I had to decide what to do. Bella wasn't a procrastinator, but I was and continued to debate the options. Mike found me at my truck and walked me to class even though he wasn't in it. I knew Jessica would be irritated since she has a crush on him, but I couldn't bring myself to care today. Edward wasn't here and I still had to decide what to do.

I went through my morning in a fog. I wasn't really paying attention to anything accept my options. I could leave Forks, which I really didn't want to do as it would break Charlie's heart and Edward's even if he didn't know. I could let everything happen as I knew it should, but I didn't want to do that either since it involved a lot of pain both physically and emotionally. There just didn't seem to be a good answer.

Finally, Jessica got my attention and again led me to lunch. I looked towards the Cullen's table and again felt disappointed when I didn't see Edward there. I sighed, well there goes the option to leave since I could never go through with it. I spent lunch continuing to internally debate and I was looking at the Cullen's table when I finally made up my mind. I would talk to Alice. She knew how to block Edward from her mind and who better to discuss the future with, than someone who sees it. As soon as the decision was made, Alice looked up meeting my gaze with a curious look on her face.

I took a deep breath as the bell rang, glad I hadn't bought any lunch today. I avoided the questioning glances from my table as I made my way over to Alice. Only her and Jasper remained seated and I wondered what she had told her siblings. I had decided to approach Alice, but not what I was going to say, so she looked intrigued when she and Jasper stood at my approach.

I stuttered out a false cheery, "Hi, Alice. Um, is there anyway I could speak with you after school today? I have gym for last period, but I'm not sure where you'll be, so I wanted to ask you now. I umm just need some advice on something and I really think you're probably the only person who would know what to do in my situation."

I hoped I made sense and glanced at Jasper who had his head tilted thinking. I'm pretty sure that as fast as I spoke I probably would've needed to repeat that for a human to understand. I turned back to look at Alice who had frozen. She then broke into a huge smile, grabbed my arm and led us out of the cafeteria. I heard Jasper clear his throat behind us.

"I would love to talk with you, Bella! I'll meet you after last period! Don't worry I'll find you!" She chirped out.

She then dropped my arm and grabbed Jasper's hand as they turned around and started walking in the other direction. I was confused and looked around at where they left me. Huh, I was right in front of my biology classroom. I chuckled and shook my head. It would take some time for me to get used to Alice.

I spent biology and gym distracted. I wanted to figure out what to say to Alice but I didn't want her to know what I was going to say ahead of time. Unfortunately, being distracted in gym is never a good thing for me and I ended up hit with the ball a few times. Mike kept trying to get me to tell him what my discussion with Alice was about. I told him I was just being nice since she's in our year. He didn't buy it, but I didn't care. Let him and Jessica think I'm trying to get Edward through Alice because that's not far from the truth.

I left gym in a bad mood and almost ran into Alice. I grabbed her and pulled her around the side of the building, out of sight from the other students. She followed me with a smile on her face.

"Alice," I whispered. "I don't know if your siblings can hear us or if you want them to, but I really need to talk to you about the future. It involves your family and myself, but particularly Edward."

Alice grinned. "What do you mean?" She asked sweetly.

I gritted my teeth; she was playing hard ball. "Well," I stammered. "I've been having…dreams…," Yeah, dreams seem like a pretty good excuse, after all I am dreaming, aren't I. "…Since before I left Phoenix and they involve all of us for the next two years in Forks." There that seemed like a good explanation.

Somehow, her grin got even wider as did her now golden eyes. "Would you like to come over to our house tonight and we can discuss it?" She asked like a 3 year old who just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

I visibly gulped. I knew the Cullens wouldn't hurt me, but at the same time I was just asked to enter the lion's den. And not only did she want me to enter the den, but also spill my secrets to everyone. I threw out the only excuse I had.

"Um, well my dad, Charlie…" I mumbled.

Before I even finished the word Charlie, Alice had her hand out with a silver cell phone sitting in her palm. I gasped and blinked. I'd been set up and Alice knew I knew.

"Here," she said. "You can use my phone to call your dad at the station. Tell him we invited you for dinner and you won't be out late." I hesitated reaching for the phone. "I can dial the number to the station for you if you don't know it." She quipped.

I glared at her, but grabbed the phone and called my dad. He agreed pretty easily after he found out I had made a friend in Alice Cullen. I had forgotten that Charlie strongly liked the Cullens. I just hoped he would like Edward when the time came.