Disclaimer: I own nothing. Good enough?

Summary: She's too shy, too scared, and too invisible to make a move. With the help of her pesky, no-business-minding best friends, can this closeted wall flower finally have the picture perfect popular princess she has admired from afar for three years? Or will religious fanatics, opinions, and high school put an end to something that could be beautiful before it even starts?

WARNING: Abuse.

A/n: So this chapter ended up being a bit too long and I had to cut it into three parts. All finished and ready for posting. And I will, quickly. Promise.

A/n2: To Lexi: I don't think you were being rude at all, just terribly blunt, which I don't mind. I love that you like my story so much and NO I do not withhold chapters just for more reviews. While I LOVE seeing so many reviews in my inbox I believe in quality over quantity and I get plenty of quality reviews. I'm sorry I take so long to post each chapter but I have two little girls who demand my attention at all times.

Anyhoo, please read and enjoy.

Closets Are For Clothes


We sit for only a moment more before Alice decides it's time to head back to the party. She may have just single-handedly killed my soul, but she holds my hands as we make our way down the stairs. But something isn't right. There aren't as many people and the ones that are still here are fucking buzzing bodies.

They're freaking the fuck out, running from one end of the house to the other.

"Bella!" Edward grabs my arm and pulls me and Alice back up the stairs. I've been searching for you everywhere!" He leads us back into his room.

"What's going on?" I really don't need this right now.

"Your fucking dad just arrested half the party. Including my fucking boyfriend."

Oh... fuck.


"Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice." ~Woodrow T. Wilson


"Your dad?" Alice asks when Edward closes the door behind us, locking it, sealing us in and everyone out. Like it would help. If Dad wants in, he'll get in.

"Yeah. Her fucking father," Edward growls, glaring holes into my face.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God." Alice paces the wall, leaning into it for support with every pass. "My dad is going to take away my Miata." She turns to me with tears in her eyes and I feel a tug at my heart. I never want her to be upset. "My Miata!" Even for something so stupid.

"Shut the fuck up about your car," Edward suddenly yells, his voice is nothing but a tear in his throat. He knocks his Star Wars action figures off the shelf. "My boyfriend just got arrested you selfish bitch!"

Alice looks down, ashamed. It takes all I have to keep my fists at my sides and not hurl them at his face for speaking to her like that. He may be my best friend, but she is my everything. She just doesn't know it yet.

"Fuck, Edward!" I yell taking a step in his direction. I know what I am saying is wrong before it even comes out but I am helpless to stop the word-vomit from spewing when I am so overwhelmed. "You should have made sure no one was drinking out in the open like that!"

Edward stops the destruction of his collectibles to stare daggers into my heart. I look away from his face and down to my hands. I shouldn't have said that, I know. Anger is an ugly bitch.

"Excuse me?" He's so calm-before-the-storm, I can feel it in the hair standing on end on the back of my neck. "Oh, hell no. Don't you dare try to blame this on me! It's your dad, Bella. And you're the idiot who told him about the fucking party. Fuck you!"

He's seething in a way I've never seen and the tears are immediate in my eyes. We don't turn against each other. We just don't.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Edward. I'm just scared." And frustrated. "You know how my dad is. He's gonna..." I can't stop the sob from spurring forth anymore than I can stop feeling Alice's presence in the room like a fucking extension of my own body. I look over to her and she's looking back at me with imploring eyes.

"You know what he'll do," I whisper to Edward, taking my eyes off my everything.

The softening of his features is immediate and he sighs a sigh full of resolved sorrow. He knows. He knows everything about my life. Maybe not the extent of my fathers brutal abusiveness, but he knows my life isn't sunshine and daisies. I can see it in his dropped shoulders and pinched brows. He knows I'm fucked.

I shrug my shoulders at him and frown a down so deep I can feel it in my toes. Out of the corner of my eyes, I can see Alice. She's walking to me slowly. She takes my clenched fist in her hand and smooths her baby-softness over it, soothing me only slightly. Her touch is marvelous.

"What would he do?"

As if I can tell her? I wish she could know everything about me. Everything. I want her to know me so well, but I can't let her know this. I feel the apple-blush on my cheeks and force a laugh. I look at her. "He'll ground me. He'll take away my computer. I...I can't live without my computer." I force another laugh and she smiles back.

"I know how you feel," she whispers, peeking at Edward. I can see she is afraid of hitting his nerve button again. She leans in close and the smell of cherries and vodka calms me, even as I hear my father downstairs gathering up screaming high schoolers.

"My dad is going to take away everything I love. My freaking Miata! I can't be without my Miata, Bella." She's whisper-yelling now. She's panicking and I want to make it better. "We have to get the frick outta here. Now!" She yanks on my arm like it's her saving grace. I want to be her saving grace. I just don't know how.

Our attention is pulled away from each other when the sounds of footsteps climbing the stairs in a hurry sounds though the now quiet house. The steps stop outside the door and I swear, I swear I can hear my fathers breathing.

It only takes a second for me to be proven right. "Edward. Get your ass out here right now, boy! I know you're in there." My father. My dad. My fucking Chief of Police father is on the other side of the door, breathing something fierce. Alice looks to me in panic and I look to Edward, desperate for answers. For a way out.

"Don't make me break this damn door down." I can feel the heat of my fathers impatience on the other side of the thick door. It will take a few tries to get that door down, but I have no doubt that he most certainly will.

Edward is already on the move. He's darting from window to window in his room, peering down. He closes blinds quickly until he comes to the window at the back of the house. He opens it as quietly as possible, but it still squeaks. We all three dart our eyes to the door. If they heard anything, they don't let on.

"Bella, this window. You can get out by climbing down the tree. But you better hold on for dear life, it's a hell of a drop to the ground."

"No one's out back?" I grab Alice by the arm and drag her with me to the window. I look down to the ground, so far from the window. It's a long drop, but the tree is close enough that it shouldn't be a problem.

"C'mon, Alice." I try to push her to go first. She doesn't budge. She stays firmly in place, biting a bloody hole into her lip she stands on her tiptoes and looks through the window, trying to see the ground. I can see the sweat forming over her skin like a blanket and the worry lines crease her brow.

She sighs. "I can't."

"Huh?" Is she in-fucking-sane? "C'mon, Alice. We really have to go." I grab her arm again, this time pulling her with all the strength in my body, but she just pulls back just as hard. I don't want my dad getting his hands on her but she just won't budge.

As if to demonstrate how much time we don't have, my father bangs his fists on the door, shaking the frame. "Just come the fuck out, boy! You have two damn seconds before this door is dust."

"Alice! Did you hear that? My dad is two seconds away from kicking the damn door down. Let's go!" I grab her again, pulling her into my body and bringing us both to the window. Freedom is literally a few feet away. A few bone-shattering feet, but that is what the damn tree is for.

Alice pushes my body off her and it's like a fucking game of tug-of-war. And she may be tiny, but I am losing. If I lose, we are all fucked. My dad is a relentless bastard.

"Bella, I had a lot to drink, I'm in skinny heels, and...and I'm freaking terrified of heights, okay! Please, you just go. I don't want you getting in any trouble. I'll just suffer through it."

I stare at her, really staring, and looking, and seeing. I see her now in a different light than before. She isn't some immortal girl I fell in love with. She's a girl with fears. It's kind of...eye opening, I guess. But her perfection doesn't lessen in my eyes. It only grows. I can protect her. I can be that for her and it gives me a sense of purpose I didn't have before. I can be there for her, if she'll let me.

Before I can tell her this, I am hauled off the ground by strong hands gripping my upper arms. I'm dragged like a rag doll to the window. I look up to see Edward glaring at me in warning.

"You need to go. Now." He looks at Alice, then leans in close to my face and I know he doesn't want her hearing whatever he needs to say. "If you get caught and that fucker puts his hands on you, I'll have murder added to my list of felonies." Nothing about his tone leaves any room for empty threats. He's completely, scarily, for real. I know he is. He's the brother I never had and he's protective of his family. He'll kill for me.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out!" He pushes me into the wall next to the window a little too roughly, but I barely notice. I am running too high on adrenalin.

I hitch up my skirt and throw one leg out. I find the thick, sturdy branch that reaches his bedroom and balance that leg on it before I turn back to Alice. She's crying and scared, watching the door as my dad pounds on it and grunts from the other side. She's afraid of him and I can't even stand it.

"Hey," I call her attention to me, ignoring Edward's glare of disapproval. "I'll go first, you can climb down right after me." I look at her with all the love and sincerity in my being. I hope she can see it. I hope she can feel it. "Trust me. I'd never let you fall, Alice."

Never never never. Ever!

She looks between me, the window, and the shaking door being relentlessly pounded on by my dad. She's scared of both, she's just got to decide which she is more afraid of.

Thankfully, the asshole speaks, making her decision that much easier."That's it! I'm busting this bitch down. You hear that, Edward? This door is coming down and you can join your butt buddy behind bars."

"Alice!"

She practically jumps on top of me when the first kick hits the door. He'll get through. No doubt. "I trust you, I trust you!"

Sweet symphony.

I make it out onto the branch easily, determination guiding my movements. Once I am steady on the large branch, I hold my hand out to Alice and she takes it. She's trusting me with her life pretty much. Even in this mess of a moment, I can still find it in myself to rejoice with a sweet mental Hallelujah.

"Hurry it up, bitches," Edward hisses. If he could push us the rest of the way, he would. I know he would.

We make it to the trunk of the tree almost effortlessly, then climb down to the lowest branch. Alice's hand is holding onto me like I'm a life jacket and my sense of purpose nearly knocks me on my ass. We jump the last three feet, thankfully landing soundlessly-safe-and-sound on the grass.

I look up to see how close Edward is only to meet his eyes. Still in the window. In the room. Where I can hear the cracking of the door. What the fuck.

"The fuck, Edward," I stage-whisper. I can hear people out front. I can hear Dad's right hand man, Felix taunting the captured party goers. I reach my hand up as if I can physically pull him down from this far. "Get the hell down here." It's a demand. A demand he just shrugs off. He motherfucking shrugs at me at a time like this. I want to throttle him.

"There's drugs all over the house, B. I'm getting slammed either way. And Jasper needs me anyway. You know he can't handle shit like this. I'll be cool. My grandpa will get me outta this in no time."

There's another crack and it's only a matter of seconds before my father barrels through. "Go!"

"Dammit, let's go." I grab a hold of Precious once again and this time she holds onto me just as tightly. We run side by side into the vast amount of trees, quickly covered by them. Surrounded and safe. But not safe enough to not still hear a loud crash and my fathers carrying voice.

"Time for you to go where you belong faggot." His voice is a powerful thing, reaching as far as we have gotten. We run like our tails are on fire. We run and we run and we run and we don't fucking stop. I count the steps we take – 1034 steps – when Alice suddenly falls to the ground cursing up a storm I've never heard from her pretty little mouth.

I won't lie. It gave me an extremely inappropriate lady-boner.

"What's wrong?"

She rips off her shoe, growling at it. I look closely seeing the skinny heel is missing. "These were my favorites," she grumbles. I laugh humorlessly-seriously-nothing-to-laugh-at-just-super-exhilarated. I collapse next to her, trying to get my breathing under control.

"I'll buy you a new pair," I promise. My eyes are closed and I can feel her. My skin is buzzing with her her her. She's all over me without even touching. It's maddening. I crack an eye open and stare at her staring at me. "We should go."

She sighs, frustrated. "We're running like we just escaped from prison," she complains.

"If we had stuck around, prison would have been a haven, hunny. Trust me." I lean up on my elbows. We're so close. The buzzing is turning into a numbing sensation, and I gotta fucking touch her. I reach my hand out and run a finger down her side. She shivers, then turns to me. She giggles, breathless. Her hand reaches to my face and I hope she is going to touch me, too, but instead her skin barely grazes mine as she pulls a twig from my tangled ponytail.

I don't have it in me to be embarrassed. She's too close. She's all that's on my mind. "Thanks," I say.

"You're welcome." Her eyes are shining and I am sure mine match.

She doesn't know it, and I know she doesn't know it, but I know it. We're fucking destined. She was made for me. Made with me in mind. There's no other explanation. This feeling, this vibe, this aura, is too damn strong. It's a pull I never want to even try to ignore.

Belong, belong, b-b-belong. Why would my heart sing such a thing if it weren't true?

The lingering silence ends when Alice grabs my hand and says, "Your dad is kind of a hard ass, huh." It isn't a question. Her eyes dart between mine as she waits for me to open up to her.

I laugh without humor, there is nothing funny about Daddy Dearest. "Sure is." I have to be as honest with this girl as I can. She's The One and The One should never be lied to.

She nods her head and sighs, long and loud. "Poor Edward."

"I know."

Another silence, this one slightly uncomfortable as Alice looks away from me a faint blush dusting her cheeks and nose. It's beautiful, but the reason behind it is unfathomable. "Are we still friends?" She wrings her fingers together nervously, again biting an ugly hole into her bottom lip. I reach up and pull her her lip from the harsh treatment.

"Why would you ask that? Of course we are...if you wanna be, that is." Maybe she doesn't. Am I too forward? Are my hands too touchy?

Her next words squash my fears and insecurities and make my spirit kind of, sort of, lift off the ground and soar. "Oh, I do! I really do," she laughs, relaxing. "You're like, the realest person in Forks," she laughs again.

I blush and look away from her now. I can't tell her that I am actually the most fake person in Forks. I am so worried about what people will think that I hide who I truly am. Even from the object of my every desire. I don't think I am a lesbian, I'm not straight, I am not bi. I am nothing but a slave to her and she doesn't even know. I revolve around her. I just can't say anything. Probably not ever.

Unfulfilled. I am.

"And the reason I ask," she continues on uncomfortably. "is because, well...I was hardly cool up there. You know, freaking out about dropping a few damn feet from a window." She laughs bitterly and another piece of her falls into my hands.

No. not immortal. Human. One that is my responsibility to care for. If she'll let me.

"Jessica and Lauren would have had a field day with that one." She rolls her eyes.

I bristle at the edges, grabbing her hand tighter in my grasp. No one is allowed to make her feel like that, like she has to hide her humanity. "Fuck them. They're sheep. Their opinion doesn't fucking matter because they've never had one of their own." My head shakes of its own accord, or maybe I am vibrating. I don't know. I look back into her awed and slightly incredulous stare.

"You don't ever have to pretend to be anything when you're with me, Alice. Never."

The same thing isn't said for me, but I don't say that to her. I have to be a friend to her, not a lover. Not yet, at least. Not until she sees.

"Yeah...I feel that." Thank you, God. "You're kinda freaking spectacular, Bella." Her smile is about a mile wide and bright as a bulb.

She feels me. She gets me. She knows me.

Thank you, God.

Her hand strokes mine, and her eyes don't stray. It's a moment I never want to end. But as always, all good things must come to an end. At least in my life this rings truth.

Footsteps. Heavy, booted footsteps break into our bubble, popping it like Tyler did earlier, only this time, it's worse. This time, it's dangerous.

"I saw a few of them running here, Chief, I swear. They can't have gotten that far." Fucking Felix. That fucking lapdog motherfucker.

I jump up, dragging Alice with me. The voices are getting louder and louder and I am struck and stuck. I can't protect what really matters to me if I am such a pussy.

Think, bitch!

"I'm wasting my damn time. They're long fucking gone."

My dad comes into view and that's all it takes for Alice to sprint the hell out of view. She jumps behind a large fallen tree trunk, lying flat on her back. I run behind a giant rock-boulder-land-before-the-humans type of creation just as the two officers enter the clearing, standing right exactly where Alice and I had only a moment ago. I peek out to watch them and make sure they don't get close to Alice.

My dad tucks the taser in his hand back into the holder around his waist. He rips a frustrated hand through his hair, sighing and turning to glare at Felix. "Fucking bastards think they can just disrespect the law." He's laughing at the edge of insanity. "Edward, that little fucking flamer, thinks that he can do whatever he wants just because his hippie-dippy parents come from old money. Pisses me off. But I got that little fucker now." He smiles a spine-tingling smile, making me shiver all over, and holds up a small plastic bag of white.

The contents are unmistakable. It's blow. Snow. Cocain. And so not Edward's.

Officer Felix looks at the bag, confused and shaking his head. "But we got that off that Newton kid." I knew it.

"Newton is a good boy, just got mixed up with the wrong people is all. And I seem to recall finding this stash in Edward's dresser drawer. Don't you?"

"Oh, right. How could I forget?" Both police-jerks laugh, and a sudden movement to their right catches my attention.

It's Alice. Fucking shit. She's trying to get out from behind the log and over to me. I wave her off with my hand, hoping my face conveys what I need it to. "Stay the fuck back."

She seems to get the message and quickly gets back into place behind the tree trunk, and damn her, makes too much noise. The leaves under her rustle noisily and both policeman jerk their heads to look.

Right.

At.

Her.

Officer Felix turns to smile cockily at my dad. He mouths "told you."

Dad just pushes his chest and pulls out his taser. His fucking taser. He's going to use a taser on the love of my life. "Come out and play, kid. We got ya surrounded," he chuckles. They both start to circle the fallen trunk and my mind is spinning.

All I can see in my mind is him touching her, grabbing her, hurting her, tasing her, handcuffing her, abusing her, arresting her, planting drugs on her...I can't fucking bear it.

Alice's damn Miata better appreciate this.

My love-feet follow my love-minds orders, and I am on my loving fucking way out from behind the boulder and into the open. Maybe I am an idiot, maybe a hero, maybe I'm just in spontaneous-all-consuming-mind-numbing love. Doesn't matter now anyway. I'm dead.

"Grab her!" I hear my father yell, but I don't look back.

I get only about four feet before I am tackled to the ground by a heavy weight, making me cry out in surprised pain. I guess I should be thankful the taser wasn't used. Tears prickle at my eyes as I am forcefully turned onto my back by Officer Felix. I look up into the stunned eyes of my father standing over us and I know, I know, I know I'm fucked.

"Is...Isabella?" Shock, disbelief, anger all fight for a place on my fathers turning-more-purple-by-the-second face.

I sniffle-choke back the sob of fear in my throat. "Hi, Dad." My eyes are spilling over now but it isn't because I am scared, or even upset anymore. These are tears of relief. They're both by me, which means Alice is safe. My stupid sacrifice wasn't all for naught.

Charlie pushes Felix off me and grabs me by the scruff of my neck, hauling my body up off the ground. He shakes me violently. I can feel the remnants of alcohol slosh around in my belly. I feel like a bottle of coke, shaken to it's breaking point. One more and I'll spew my dinner all over my father.

He's red with anger and glowing with barely contained rage. "You disobedient little..." He shakes me again and it's all I can do to keep the bile in my throat from coming forth.

I mean, no need to poke the bear, right mom?

He throws me back down onto the forest floor then turns his head to the side and spits his next words at his right hand man. "Go back to the cars. You didn't fucking see her, got it?"

Felix catches the threatening undertone and immediately cowers away. He spares me one last glance before taking off, my little friend behind the tree long forgotten. And if I didn't know that for sure, my fathers next move makes it perfectly clear she is all but a distant memory.

My father looks down at me, red with rage, and delivers a swift kick to my side. I wasn't expecting it and can't hold in the shock-pained scream. I can barely see through the tears blurring my eyes, but I know Alice is here, watching. I can feel her.

And I am shamed.

"How dare you? You shameful little piece of shit." Another kick to my side, only this time I hold my lips in a tight line only letting out a whimper of hard repressed pain. Alice doesn't need to hear me. I'm degraded enough.

"Did your fucking mother let you out?" He picks me back up by my hair and I grab his hand with both of mine trying to lessen the pain, but it's in vain as he brings his face down to mine and hisses,"The truth."

I know what he wants. He wants to cast blame on my mom. He prefers to pick on her. It makes him feel more powerful, but I won't drag her down with me. I breathe through the pain in my side as the tears are falling freely. I'm helpless to stop them. "I sneaked out. She didn't see me, I swear, Dad. She had no idea. She wouldn't undermine you like that."

You happy bastard? You feel like a man now?

Dad closes his eyes, his nostrils flared as he tries to rein in his anger. Sobbing uncontrollably now, I look out of the corner of my eyes to Alice who is now closer than I would like. She looks enraged and scared all at once. Even in my pain, she is first priority. Everything about me, in me, around me, screams that she is.

I mouth "no" and let go of my dads hand with only one of mine to motion for Alice to flee-fucking-flee, hunny! She hesitates for a second before running away with her shoes in hand.

Dad opens his eyes and glares at me. Fear sets in deeper now that Alice is out of harms way. I'm f-u-c-k-e-d and I know it. He finally lets go and I cry in relief, rubbing my head, trying to rid myself of the harsh sting. He takes off his jacket and throws it around my shoulders.

"You look like a prostitute," he sneers disgustedly. I look down ashamed, again. "You're just like your damn mother." He grabs my arm and pushes me in the direction of the Cullen mansion. I limp from the pain in my side, but make no complaint.

"I'm gonna take you home." he says. "You're gonna change those clothes, then you're gonna wait for me. I gotta make sure your faggot friends don't get off with a slap on the wrist. When I get home, you better believe you won't either."

I cry a little harder but it makes no sound. It wouldn't matter anyway. I haven't cried so much in a long time. It stopped helping when I was ten, now it just makes me feel weak. And he doesn't care.

Something catches my blurry attention and I look to the side and see Alice. She's standing slightly hidden by a tree. Her shoulders are shaking and I can tell she is crying. Dammit, why does she have to do that to me? I look away quickly not wanting to see that and also not wanting my father to catch on that I was distracted by anything too important.

Because she is. Too important.

When we finally get to the front of the Cullen mansion I see four police cruisers sitting out front, all full of party goers, three each. The rest are sitting on the porch, being heavily interrogated and taunted by three policeman with tasers and guns and batons and it's scary.

For me. For them. For everyone. Except the cops. They couldn't care less about anything but a quota and looking like total bad asses.

I look into the cars as I pass them, noticing my dads main guys; Felix, Demetri, Jane, and Alec all in their own cruisers with three teenagers in each of their backseats and evil, satisfied smiles on their faces. I can see a crying Lauren in the backseat of Jane's car. A sniffling Tyler Crowley in Demetri's and a few other familiar faces, all crying in some form.

I don't know these people, I don't like these people, but it's still heart wrenching. They didn't deserve this. They just wanted fun on a Friday and I ruined it. I was stupid to think my father wouldn't check out the party when I mentioned it. I just figured he wouldn't be dumb enough to jeopardize his job. Esme's father, Eleazar, is one bad motherchucker and hates when his family is fucked with. Everyone knows this. I thought it would keep him away.

I was mistaken. Dad. Is. Relentless.

Dad pushes me into the back of the car and I curse loudly when I see Edward is handcuffed, his arms twisted in a shoulder popping position. I can tell Dad took care to make sure Edward is comfortable. The door slams behind me. I don't need to look to know that Edward is wide-eyed staring at me.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he whispers. He's in disbelief. I can't blame him. Last he saw, Alice and I were free and home-bound.

I shrug with tears in my eyes. I don't look at him. I don't want Edward to see the fear in my eyes. I can feel his stare on my face as Father Dear pulls the drivers side door open then slams it shut, the car rocking slightly with his movements.

"Yep," Dad chuckle-sighs, his shoulders shaking. "You two are in for a world of hurt." He turns to look at me, his eyes connecting with mine. "A world of hurt."

Edward growls low in his throat but doesn't say anything. I know he would if he didn't fear that it would only make things worse for me. He knows it will and I can see the strain in his jaw to keep quiet when I glance at him. I look away quickly, but reach over and touch his hand with mine behind his back.

He doesn't calm. But I do. Slightly.


This is, as always, unedited. I don't have a beta and even if I did, I wouldn't know what to do with her.

Peace and Love.