A/N Yes, I gave in and gave you a chappie because I can't even tell you how much I want to continue with this story. So, you're welcome. But was last chapter really so uninteresting that I didn't get any reveiws? All I'm asking for is something like 'I can't wait to see what happens' or 'you should improve so-and-so', something to keep me motivated, guys. I promise things will start getting more interesting this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from the books! That's all Stephanie Meyer, folks.
Chapter 4: Celebration
It was impossible to argue with Alice. I wanted to do a butterfly- nature theme, while Bella though that every little girl should have a princess party. But Alice argued against us because we were completely against nature in every possible way, and that Renesmee had never taken an interest in princesses and the like. She wanted a wolf theme, like Jacob. And with Alice's psychic ability, she already knew what arguments we would put out before we said them. So Bella and I quickly gave up.
"Alright, we'll go with the wolf theme," I sighed. "Oh, man, we're going to have a lot of cocky, annoying werewolves at this party. I'll go tell Renesmee and see what she thinks." I stood up and ran outside, where Edward was watching Jacob and Renesmee play tag.
"Alice get the best of you?" Edward chuckled, already knowing the answer.
"I can't imagine you arguing with her very often," I said, shaking my head. Then I turned to the werewolf, now holding the girl in his arms. "Renesmee, can I pull you away for a moment?"
She touched her hand to his cheek. He sighed before bringing her over to the steps that I was standing in front of.
"She's so excited about this," Jacob sighed. "I suppose I'm going to have to hand her over to you so she can learn what's going on with her birthday."
"I'm not keeping her forever," I promised, taking Renesmee from his arms into mine. "And I think you'll like what we've decided." Edward laughed beside me, reading my mind again. "After debating a little while... well, not a debate really, you know Alice. She wants to center your birthday party around wolves."
She touched my cheek, showing me a picture of a giant russet-colored wolf-Jacob.
"Yes, like him," I smiled. Renesmee smiled back at me before turning around and showing Jacob our plan.
"What do you know? The vampire was right, I do like that idea!" Jacob grinned. "But, of course, it's up to you."
"That sounds fun," Renesmee told me. "Thank you." She put her arms around my neck and hugged me. I lightly hugged her back.
"Aw, you're welcome, Nessie," I replied. Instantly I heard Bella's shout from inside the house.
"Oh man, not you too?" She shouted. I looked over at Edward and Jacob, who were laughing their heads off, confused.
"What did I do?" I asked.
"Bella doesn't really like that nickname," Edward explained. "It reminds her of the Loch Ness Monster. You should have seen her try to bite Jacob's head off, literally, when she first heard him call her that."
"Wait a minute, I just came up with that!" I cried. "You mean you were actually using it before this?" I'd been thinking about a nickname for her, since Renesmee was kind of a tongue-twister and got tiring to say all the time. But I never would have guessed that I wasn't the first to think of Nessie.
Then I began laughing along with the rest of them.
"Sorry, Bella!" I apologized. "In my defense, I knew nothing about this!" I handed Nessie back up to Jacob once he'd quieted his laughter a little farther.
"Here, you'd better take her back," I said. "We've got work to do."
The party preparations went smoothly, especially with Jacob modeling for me. I made some paintings of wolves for decorations to put on the side of the house, and one special one for Nessie's present since I didn't exactly own any money. I'd never made any art of wolves before. Vampires and werewolves weren't exactly supposed to get along. But, in the few days since I'd gotten here, I'd really gotten to like them. They were nothing like the wolves I'd met in California.
Esme made an amazing looking cake that any human would probably die for. It didn't smell too bad, either. But the other things she made smelled awful. There was some kind of fancy noodle thing covered with sauce made of milk and flour and sprinkled with cheese and all sorts of spices that burned my mouth when I took in their scents.
When Jacob smelled it, though, he went crazy, wanting to eat it right away. It took Emmett and I to hold him back, and Jasper's ability to calm him down while Esme put it in the fridge.
Saturday came around quickly, and all the werewolves showed up around eleven in intervals. I noticed that Jacob was looking around for someone.
"Hey, Jacob, what's the matter?" I asked, approaching him. He glanced over me in the midnight blue silk dress that Alice had given me. It was sleeveless and really big and fluffy from the waist down. Luckily, I was still able to move pretty well in it, being a vampire, but the fanciness embarrassed me. "I would be blushing right now if I could."
"Don't worry about it, you look good," Jacob laughed. Then he sighed. "I'm still waiting for Ryan to show up. He was so unenthusiastic about this, but he promised to be here. I hope he shows up on his own so I don't have to make him get the hell over here this instant."
"I'm sure he'll come," I tried to assure him. "I wouldn't dare break a promise to you. Why don't you go play with Nessie? I'm sure she won't want you to be upset at her party."
"Yeah, okay," Jacob said, smiling again. "Thanks, Leslie."
"No problem," I said, before wandering in Edward's direction. He was over by Bella and Renesmee. Jacob was talking to Bella and cooing over Nessie. Edward walked away from them and towards me when he heard what I wanted to ask him.
"I'm sorry, I just don't know anyone," I apologized. "I feel a little out of place."
"That's okay," Edward said. "I'll tell you who's who."
Oh, man, I'm late!
The house quickly came into my view. I slowed down to a quick walking pace, catching my breath in the last few yards. It looked like they hadn't gotten around to doing anything yet, just talking so far. I sighed with relief.
"Jacob!" I called, sighting the Alpha near the house. He turned towards me, holding Renesmee in his arms. She was in a light pink, frilly dress- the work of Alice, I was sure. He waved at me, smile widening. Then a flash of dark blue caught my sight in my peripheral vision.
I turned to see her by Edward- the new vampire. She glanced in my direction at my arrival, and our eyes met.
My world froze. Everything went black around her. I could only barley hear the others around us. She was like nothing in the world, with her beautiful orange hair and tangerine-colored eyes. My heart felt like it was about to pound out of my chest. All I could do was stare at her.
Then, suddenly I knew what this was.
My eyes were locked on the new arrival. He was different than all the other werewolves. He was wearing a nice suit, though there were leaves covering it, and his hair was much shorter, though still kind of long for a boy's. And he kept staring at me. A whole minute passed without his eyes leaving me. It made me kind of uncomfortable.
"Edward..." I prodded the mind-reader. He glanced over at me, noticing what I was staring at. He quickly followed my gaze to the odd werewolf. I looked up as he chuckled.
"What? What's so funny? What's he thinking about?" I demanded.
"Jacob's relieved to see that Ryan's here," he muttered to himself before answering my string of questions. "He thinks you're pretty, that's all, really."
"What?" I hissed softly. "That werewolf? I thought they didn't like us!"
"Well, he's not the first one, with you in that dress," Edward muttered. "Jeez, Alice... sure made her stand out far enough."
I looked back at the werewolf- Ryan I corrected myself- incredulously. Jacob was dragging him away towards the present table.
"You better have gotten something," I heard him say.
"Can we please do some kind of organized thing now?" I begged. Edward laughed, and began to weave his way through the crowd, probably to one of his parents or Bella. A short minute later, I heard Carlisle calling everyone's attention.
"If we could have a small moment of silence..." he began. "I would like to invite all the werewolves to enjoy a special meal made by my wife Esme." He chuckled. "We'll stick around, of course, but it's not exactly like we can eat."
The two packs gathered around the giant, fancy, fold-up dining table that we'd set up only just before the werewolves started arriving. Jacob was sitting at the head of the table with Nessie, who was holding a cup of blood that Carlisle had provided for her. Apparently, they'd been trying to get her to eat more human food, but since it was her birthday, he made an exception.
"C'mon, Nessie, would you please just try the food that grandma Esme made you?" I tried to persuade her. The stuff smelled awful to me, but Esme had taken so long to make it. "Please?"
Nessie took a small hesitant bite of the fancy sauce-covered noodle thing and swallowed it. She made a face at me after it had gone down.
"Yeah, I know, didn't smell that good to me either," I sighed. Oh, well, I was sure the werewolves could easily take care of the rest.
Nessie finished her cup of blood before the werewolves finished their meal, of course. I'd never seen anything eat so much before. Alice had been right about their hearty appetites. And I'd been worried that Esme had made too much. Once I saw them start, I switched to worrying that she hadn't made enough. But the werewolves finished their meal without complaining of malnourishment, so I figured that it was better that I wouldn't have to hear it than to have them full. I was just glad they had enough manners to not beg for more like dogs- pun intended.
The only one who hadn't touched his food was Ryan. I could have heard his stomach growling from five miles away, but he seemed distracted. Though he didn't seem to notice, I was watching him glance at me every minute or so, only to look quickly down again. I was beginning to wonder what was going through his head about me. I'd have to ask Edward later. I hoped he would pick up on it.
Eventually, Ryan handed his food over to Seth, one of the younger werewolves of the batch. It was only a plateful- a small amount for the wolves- but Seth seemed happy about it anyway. I'd quickly taken a liking to Seth. He was a cute kid and not quite as reckless as the rest of them. Though I couldn't see how he could live with his sister. To put it very nicely, she was highly opinionated and strongly supported those opinions. She annoyed me with those opinions.
As the party moved on, I began to realize most of the werewolves didn't trust me. Especially the other pack- not Jacob's. Edward had told me what he knew of the pack's separation- which was more than the others, due to his ability.
Ryan began staring at me again. Once he looked like he was coming over to talk to me, then he stopped again, hesitantly, glancing at Jacob. Finally I went inside because he was creeping me out. Though no one looked at me, I was sure they noticed.
Once inside, I found a nice, dark part of the staircase and sat there, my big poofy dress resting neatly in the shadows around me. This dress reminded me of a more casual version of something they'd put me in. I quickly distracted myself from those thoughts, not wanting to give myself away to Edward. Not so soon, anyway.
I suddenly wondered what Bella's opinion of me spending so much time with her mate was. I knew that the only reason for that was because I was curious about the Cullens' life, but did she? Edward could give me the answers I wanted, but maybe Bella thought that wasn't all I wanted. I remembered Alice telling me that Bella's ability was a shield, so Edward couldn't hear her thoughts. Had he ever considered that possibility?
At that moment, Alice came into the house, interrupting my thoughts. She quickly located me on the stairs, and was by my side in a flash.
"Hey, Leslie!" She greeted, smiling. "You okay? You came in here all the sudden, it worried me a little."
"Yeah, fine," I assured her, returning a smile. "I'm not good with big crowds."
"Feeling out of place?" Alice guessed correctly. "Don't worry, they'll all get used to you eventually. I mean, I should know, right?" She laughed and I laughed along with her. "Well, Renesmee's going to be opening her presents soon. I thought you'd want to be out there for that. Or, at least, she wants you out there." I looked up, surprised.
"She really asked for me?" I questioned in disbelief. I hadn't thought Nessie had really put me high on her friends list. I figured she was more like Bella, who was friendly around me, but still wary in case I lost it.
"Yup, she asked for you personally!" Alice nodded. "Come on, have I ever steered you wrong?"
"Yes," I scoffed, examining the fancy dress I was in. She rolled her eyes.
"You'll see," she said jokingly. "I'm sure you'll be the center of attention every time you let me dress you. Come on, you've gotta admit that what I've gotten you is better than that crappy outfit you came here in."
"No, no I don't," I said, briskly standing up. I wanted to yell at her that that crappy outfit I came here in was the only thing I'd ever really owned as a vampire, and had cost me all of the little money I had once owned. But, I knew she was just trying to make me feel better, so I kept my mouth shut.
"Come on, let's go," Alice grabbed my arm. "They can't start until you're out there!"
I allowed her to drag me quickly outside. It wasn't like everyone made a big deal out of our arrival, but it was obvious to me that some kind of signal had been set off. The vampires all gathered around the gift table, grabbing up the fancily wrapped presents that they'd gotten her.
"Alice..."
"Oh, that's right, your present!" Alice snapped before I even asked. "It's in my room, I'll go get it."
"Thanks," I sighed. Alice had agreed to hide my present for me since I'd refused to steal their nice, sparkly, thirty-dollar wrapping paper. I'd gotten Edward to argue with me, since he could see what Alice could. It was quite interesting. After I'd gotten him on my side, they stared eachother down for about five minutes, a war of the minds. Then Alice sighed and retreated to the kitchen to oversee the cake-making.
Suddenly, Bella's voice snapped me out of my memories, for some reason.
"Renesmee, present time!" she called.
My head instantly snapped over to Renesmee, my mind expecting something to happen. Alice watched me from halfway through the door. Suddenly, her eyes glazed over and a horrified expression filled her face.
Nessie began running towards her mother. In the next instant, she tripped over the frilly dress that Alice had put her in. Bella was by her side in an instant as the salty smell of her blood flooded my senses. I tried to hold my breath, but it was too late.
I lost control.
A/N Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger! I haven't really done one of those for awhile. Hope it was ok. I can't say much more without giving anything away, really. You probably knew this would happen sooner or later, right? I would find it so funny to watch Alice and Edward argue.
-You might want to go back and take a look at the last chapters because now there are divider lines between Leslie's and Ryan's POV so it should make a little more sense.
-I have created a poll for this story, so don't forget to vote in that! And, lastly...
As always R&R or no chappie for you! (Please?)