A/N: Longest chapter yet…phew! It will be changing POVS basically every time I do an "ASADSFADS" thing, so…beware. There is POV hopping.

Oh! And before I forget—and this counts for the entire story—I have a disclaimer! I do not own any of the characters in Twilight, I do not own Twilight, and I do not own Stephanie Meyer and things like that…on with the show!

Alice POV

Chapter 4

I was still chuckling as I saw Bella stomp furiously into the building, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. It was just too funny. Of course, she probably would never understand just what about telling me "not to lose sleep" was so hilarious—but then again, she wasn't a vampire, and probably never would be.

That reminded me—I was waiting for Edward. Who was inside. With Bella.

Oh, this would not be pleasant.

He had pulled me aside before gym, now our free period (a note from Carlisle got us out of nearly everything), to tell me that there had been an absolutely delicious smelling girl in his biology class. I hadn't quite believed him…but Edward had been a vampire for far longer than me, and had a much better tolerance level. I had just assumed that someone had just smelled unnaturally good, and he was possibly overreacting.

But then I remembered that girl I had helped before school, and how she had smelled so oddly enticing—she had a very strong scent. Floral, somehow…

Even I had had to exert more than my usual amount of self-control not to attack her. The fire in my throat had burned fiercer than ever, and all I wanted to do was to douse it with some nice, clean, wonderful blood…but then I had remembered Jazz, and how my example was the only thing keeping him from turning back into your average vampire.

I nearly cracked up at the very thought—"average vampire." There was nothing average about us. Heightened senses, highly refined predatory reflexes, and so alluring to our prey that we hardly had to do any work. But this Bella girl, who everyone in Forks had been talking about for the past fortnight, hadn't seemed to be that affected. Of course she had noticed my unnatural good looks, and she had been stunned…but she hadn't found us half as appetizing as we found her, or as most other people found us—she hadn't been early as astounded as the first time Lauren Mallory had glanced our way. And yet Bella seemed to want to get to know us better, even without our "charming" factor playing as big of a role. Maybe that's what made Edward interested in her—her lack of self-preservation. Or maybe he just felt the need for chivalry, because her clumsiness was evident.

Just the picture of Edward on a white horse in shining armor with Bella looking up at him in shock gave me another fit of giggles. It was so easy for me to laugh at the world, probably because I had built up an intense sense of humor. I had seen from early on that only finding the funny things in life could stop you from sinking into depression in all the spare time one acquired when one was nearly indestructible.

Maybe that was why Edward was always so sullen, always so aloof and gloomy. Maybe he needed another someone to brighten up his day. Maybe he was wrong when he said that he was complete the way he was, that he did not need a companion.

Because I had seen how he had looked at Bella in the cafeteria, and I could see the worry for her he had in his eyes when he pulled me over to consult with me about whether he should switch out of his biology class. I could tell that he was genuinely concerned for her safety, and not just because she was an innocent human.

But because she was Bella.

And my brother might not have noticed it, but that probably had made all the difference between him taking a chomp out of her right there in class and him resisting his desire. Maybe they would even fall in love, I thought hopefully, or at least form a sort of companionship. I could see that I could do a lot of good for this girl—Bella Barbie. It had a nice ring to it. She could experience all the aches and pains of being a human teenager that I would never feel, though I could try and feel them through her. A vicarious lifestyle sounded oddly pleasant.

That was when I decided that I would stop at nothing to bring Bella Swan and my brother, Edward, together. I would see this relationship through to the finish line, and I knew that it would work out in my favor.

Because nobody, not even Edward, bets against Alice.

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Edward POV

"Please," I argued with Miss Dalac, "I really must switch out of my sixth period class. I can do all sorts of other work…I can help out at the hospital, or help out with the nurse—I've been with Carlisle enough to know all sorts of medical theories and practices…"

"I'm sorry," she said, fluttering her eyelashes at me, "I simply can't allow it, Edward." Though I could allow something else… I heard her think seductively, her eyelids lowering even further down, if that was possible. I nearly groaned out loud. I did not need my vampiric powers to lure her in now, of all times. I just needed to switch classes. Because I could not—no, I would not sit next to Bella Swan again. I would not endanger her life as well as the lives' of countless others. It wasn't her fault that she smelled so mouth-wateringly delicious…

"Please?" I said fervently. "I'm sure that I can take advanced chemistry with the seniors instead of biology…I get straight As, and I've talked a lot with Jasper about the subject…" Of course, the silly woman didn't even bother to check if I was lying—she was too busy thinking about all of the males in our family.

Ooh, those Cullen boys are so young…and so handsome. Maybe incest doesn't work out so badly…

I nearly growled at her thoughts. She had no right to judge our family in that way—we weren't even related, so how was it incest? We were a coven who happened to be masquerading under the guises of students. She couldn't possibly know that Jasper and Alice and Rosalie and Emmett had been married to one another respectively several times each, and that we were all probably older than her grandparents, though we retained all the outward appearances of youth. Though she knew none of this, I still couldn't stand her petty, human condemnation. Her entire species never bothered to think things through, or to look at something from a different angle. They just always had to right, they always had to be so selfish…

"Please," I tried again, my eyes burning as I looked into her watering green ones. "It would mean so much to me if you did this…"

"Well…" she said hesitantly—I could tell that she was on the verge of deciding in my favor, that she was about to agree with me…

And then the door rattled open, a gust of cold wind blasting some of the papers off of her desk. My hold was broken. I frowned in annoyance before I realized that something more than just air had blown in—it had brought something with it. A scent. A scent so heavenly that it was unbearable, a scent so delightful, so delicate, so absolutely divine that it was like ambrosia to my senses…utterly irresistible.

It had to be Bella Swan.

I turned to glare murderously at the poor girl, hoping that she would take a hint and leave. It would spare me some trouble (already the fire in my throat was pulsing, begging for her blood), and it just might save her life. But she simply stood there, obviously terrified, clutching onto a sheaf of papers and yet still managing to stare back at me defiantly. I nearly shook my head in aggravation. This girl couldn't possibly understand how very tantalizing she was, how much of an effort was needed on my part not to stride across the room, bend my head to her neck, and gently sink my teeth into her pale, delicate skin, though of course I would take care of Miss Dalac first…

No, I thought sternly to myself. Absolutely not. Stop breathing, stop smelling—right now. Do you hear me, Edward Cullen? Stop it. Right now.

It was funny how my conscious sounded so uncannily like Carlisle, though I vaguely wondered if he had smelled anything so enticing before…

I turned to face Miss Dalac again, careful to wipe my less-than-pleasant expression off of my face. "Never mind," I said smoothly, "I see that it can't be done." I whipped around and strode out the door, careful not to look in Bella Swan's direction. I didn't want to lose control, to ruin my family's secret. I didn't want to be the cause of a mass killing. I didn't want to be a monster.

As soon as I was outside, I took a deep breath of fresh air, trying to remind myself of the unpleasant odors of exhaust and gasoline, before running over to my silver Volvo. I breathed heavily and ran a hand through my hair, getting in and shutting the door with unnecessary force. I had to get out of here. I had to leave.

"Hey, Edward, what took you so long?" I could hear Emmett's deep voice from behind me, playful and childlike as ever. No doubt he had taken the time without me to have some thoughts about Rosalie that he knew would have deeply disturbed me had I been near enough to hear them. Alice turned to face me from the shotgun seat, clearly very worried.

"Are you okay?" she said, her eyes soft and sad.

"I'm fine," I responded curtly, pressing my foot to the pedal and zooming out of the parking lot. Already I was hitting 100, and the roads were too slick for comfort. But I wasn't worried—I just needed to leave. To leave Forks, to go anywhere but here where I could smell Bella Swan. That girl, that intoxicating girl, would be the death of me…or, at least, the death of herself.

I sighed and said softly, knowing full well that the others could hear me, "I'm going to leave for a while. I won't be coming back for some time. I need to…collect my thoughts. Straighten my priorities."

The others accepted this without question, though I could hear all of their concerned thoughts.

"What's going on?" "Why is he doing this?" "Has something happened?"

And then, from Alice, something encouraging. "Don't worry, Edward, I smelled her, too. Her scent was very nice. But I'm sure you'll only need a couple days to pull yourself together. Remember, we're here for you." She laid a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I frowned and murmured, "It's not as simple as that. I don't think I can handle being around her, Alice. And, the strangest thing was that…I couldn't read her mind." I didn't need to hear Alice's thoughts to know how shocked she was. "She's just so…so…appealing," I said, struggling at the end. It was hard to describe her effect on me. It wasn't just her smell—of that I was sure. It was something more. It was her mannerism, her defiance even when so terrified…prey that dared to look the hunter in the eye—it made her blood smell all the sweeter.

I shook my head. I shouldn't be getting so preoccupied over some human girl. They came and they went, their life spans like flies on the windshield—insignificant, short, and annoying.

"Edward…" I could hear Alice opening her thoughts to me again. "Are you sure that you're…okay? She seems to be puzzling you, at least, more than the average human."

"Well," I admitted slowly, "She is an enigma."

"And you do like puzzles," Alice whispered, giving me a small smile. "But don't over think this. And please don't lose any sleep over it."

It was hard to contain my grin when she said that. "I'll try," I promised.

At least there was one goal I could fulfill.

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Bella POV

Charlie wasn't back yet when I arrived at his house—home, I mentally corrected myself. My new home. I sighed as I pulled into the driveway, keeping my face as stony as possible. I refused to cry about Edward Cullen. I refused to let myself be weak. I absolutely would not let myself be so affected by a mere god.

I could barely keep myself from shivering as I slumped into the house, the image of his black eyes narrowed to slits and his upper lip curled, his white teeth flashing—all of these repeating in my head. He hated me. He absolutely hated me, and for a reason that I simply could not understand. Maybe it was Charlie. Maybe my dad had put away one of his friends, or something. But somehow, I couldn't believe that. Edward Cullen seemed like the type of person who deserved many friends but had few, yet basked in his solitude. Otherwise, why would he sit with his siblings at lunch, not even conversing with them? He also was obviously unaware of the power that his looks gave him, because he didn't seem to use them to gather a circle of admirers. But, then again, they probably piled up without him even trying—Jessica was answer enough for that. I blushed at the thought that he most likely believed I was a new addition to the "WE HEART EDWARD CULLEN" club. He was probably just disgusted with me for being like every other female who caught sight of him. And he was probably right.

I hung my head and stumped up the stairs, tripping four times on my way to my room. I guessed my clumsiness was magnified when I was particularly emotional. I set to work with the simple biology homework, and then, just to get it over with, switched to Trig. I was still struggling with problem nine when I heard the doorbell ring downstairs.

I was startled. Had Charlie forgotten his key? Did Charlie even come home this early? I trudged back down the stairs, eager to return to my studying and get whoever it was to go away. If it was Charlie, did he want me to fix him dinner? I knew he couldn't cook. Or was it just a neighbor coming to welcome me to Forks?

"Wait one second," I called as I neared the door, switching the lock and pulling the handle. I almost fainted when I saw who stood outside.

Alice Cullen.

"Uh, hi," I said, my eyes wide. I could see a beautiful Mercedes parked outside, glistening yellow and shining with moisture. I was relieved to find that none of her siblings were with her. At least I wouldn't be getting any more death stares today. "Do you want something?" I said, trying to sound as polite as possible. I didn't want to accidentally offend the one Cullen who was friendly to me.

"I just wanted to say hi," she said, beaming at me. It took me a few moments before I realized that she probably wanted to come in—it was rude to leave a guest on the doorstep.

"Oh!" I said, stepping to the side to allow her in. "Come on in—uh, do you want something to drink or…something?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine," she said cheerfully. No wonder she was so thin, I thought bitterly, she didn't eat.

"Uh, well, the living room's this way," I said, staring at the ground as I led her to the room. Why on earth was she here?

She pirouetted into the room, leaping to a chair where she gracefully seated herself. I gulped as I, too, sat down, only much more awkwardly than her. The differences between us were embarrassingly obvious.

"So," I said, twiddling my thumbs as I stared at the beige carpet.

"You're a very interesting person, Isabella Swan," she said, ignoring me. "Very interesting."

"Uh, thanks?" I said, staring up at her with confusion. She was the interesting one here, not me.

She looked at me closely, eyes thoughtful. "You know," she said nonchalantly, "I could be friends with you."

"Um, thank you?" I said again, still puzzled.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "You don't understand me, do you?"

I decided to go for a compromise. "Well, you're very interesting, yourself."

She gave a small smile. "I suppose. But not half so interesting as you—you have a strange effect, did you know that?"

I shook my head, trying to figure out what she meant. Was she trying to say nicely that I was really weird?

"Yes," she continued, "A very strange effect. I've never seen Edward quite so worried about anyone…"

My ears perked up at the sound of her brother's name. Edward, godly, beautiful Edward, had been worried about me? His actions and her words didn't seem to fit. So, like the extremely eloquent person I am, I simply said, "What?"

She laughed, her head tilting back and her eyes closing. "Ah, Bella," she said. "Edward was worried about how you were…doing. He really didn't mean to glare at you quite like that—it was a perfectly natural reaction."

I pursed my lips. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, yes, of course—you don't understand anything I'm saying, no doubt. But you will understand, you'll see," she said confidently. "Everything will become clear to you soon."

I raised an eyebrow. "Whatever. But is there something that you wanted?"

She looked at me slyly, her mouth turned upwards. "Bella, would you like to go shopping with me?"

"Uh…" I wasn't quite sure what to say.

"You could say yes," she said hopefully—I cursed my easily readable face.

"Well…" how was I supposed to turn her down? I really detested shopping, and though I had some money with me from when I had planned on buying my own car, I really didn't want to spend it on a shopping spree.

"You don't have to buy anything," she said quickly, "I'd just really like someone to go along with me, because, you know, you can only go shopping with Rosalie so many times." At this she rolled her eyes, and for the first time I felt like I could relate to her as an actual person.

I glanced up the stairs; what was awaiting me up there? My trig homework? Another threatening letter? I shivered.

"I'll leave a note for Charlie," I said, getting up and grabbing my coat.

"Great!" she called out happily from behind me. "We're going to have so much fun! And then afterwards we can stop by my house to try on some other stuff…this is going to be great!"

I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. It was so easy to be happy around Alice—she exuded cheerfulness. So, surprisingly enough, I found myself looking forward to shopping for the first time in my life.

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Alice POV

I was so incredibly happy when Bella said yes to my little idea. Of course, I had seen her struggling with her homework, and knew that she had no good reason to stay…but I really didn't know if that would be enough for her to say yes. I had already rifled through her closet before she got home (I had decided I needed to know about her as much as possible), and had only found a few acceptable articles of clothing. She needed this shopping spree. Of course, I would return later to all the stores we had left to collect all the clothing she had tried on, and then pass on the clothes to her as a "gift"…but she didn't need to know that.

And the rest of my plan was progressing wonderfully, too. I knew that Edward was unusually intrigued with her, and I found myself interested in her, as well. She wasn't like the other humans we were so used to being around—there was something more to her. And besides, I had seen her being my friend. That was enough incentive to let me know that I was doing the right thing, getting the two of them together. Honestly, I could care less whether their relationship was about love or about family or about hate…I just wanted them to have one. Though love would be preferable.

I frowned as I thought about how lonely Edward had been for the past couple of decades, always playing the piano, or secluded in his room listening to music, or just sitting and staring off into space, contemplating his existence. He thought that his music was his only love, and that he was complete in notes and rhythms—but the rest of us disagreed. We could all see that he needed someone, anyone…by now, we would have even accepted a werewolf so long as he got a companion.

Bella returned to stand in front of me, and for the first time I assessed her appearance—was she anywhere near Edward's type? She was relatively pretty, for a human, but obviously shy and quiet, with very large brown eyes. Doe eyes. I smirked. Yeah—Edward would totally fall for her eyes. Of course, she didn't dress like she ought to…I knew that he would love her in blue, not this red blouse she was wearing. I would have to get her a lot of new clothes, that was for sure.

"So, we ready to go, or what?" she asked, casting an anxious glance around the room and then fingering a pouch at her neck.

"Yeah," I said. "Let's go."

I bounded over to my car, bouncing up and down impatiently in the seat as I waited for her to join me. She was unusually slow for a human…but that was probably because she was so clumsy and didn't want to trip. Once she finally got inside, I grinned at her. "You ready to go shopping?"

She nodded glumly, though I could see some excitement in her eyes.

I pushed down on the pedal and revved out of the driveway, accelerating to the fairly slow speed of 80—I didn't want to scare her off. To keep her focused on something other than the speedometer, though, I started trying to initiate conversation.

"So, Bella," I said, looking at her from my peripheral vision. "You like Forks?"

She sighed. "No."

I smirked. "I thought not."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I just…Forks has always been a kind of bad place for me to be. I don't really get along with all this…green." She shivered.

I laughed heartily, throwing my head back. "Ah-ha! Okay! Yeah, Edward'll definitely like you."

She narrowed her eyes at me, looking suspicious. "What do you mean 'Edward'll like me?'"

Oh, I don't know," I said innocently. "But, first off—what's your shoe size?"

"Huh?" She seemed completely caught off balance. "Well, it's a size eight."

I nodded. "And your jean size?"

"Uh, a four or a two, I'm not sure," she said. "But what about what you said?"

I frowned. This girl was persistent. "What do you mean, what did I say?"

"I mean, what did you mean by saying that 'Edward'll really like me'?" She wasn't going to be sidetracked so easily. I sighed.

"Slip up on my part," I muttered. "Sorry, but…I just can see you two being good friends. Very good friends." I tried not to put too much emphasis on the very—she was too perceptive.

"Yeah, right," she snorted, turning away from me. "He positively loathes me. I doubt I could get him to even look at me straight without scowling."

I giggled. Edward did seem to scowl a lot around her. "Don't worry," I assured her, "Edward will come around. Trust me." I looked solemnly at her. I knew that it wasn't yet the time to tell her that I had visions of the possible future, and for the past three hours I had been envisioning something that had convinced me that Edward would fall in love with her; Bella persuading Edward to go shopping with me. If that wasn't love, then I don't know what is. But I would save that little piece of information for a rainy day…though, I supposed, saving it for a sunny day would be a little bit more appropriate for the tiny, wet town of Forks.

"Whatever," she shrugged, obviously unconvinced.

I grinned. Yeah, Edward would totally fall for her.

A/N: So, what did you think? Review!