'You should just forget about him Al'

'How can I forget, when he keeps walking past me and sticking his nose in the air at every fucking opportunity he gets?!' I was pacing the kitchen, after quickly changing the subject. Dad and Emmett had been wondering why the smoke alarm keeps going off, when there's clearly nothing there. I had been leaning out of my window for a fag at every opportunity I got, as dad would no doubt make me quit when he found out.

'Language Bella.' They want to stop me smoking, they want to stop me swearing, next thing you know they'll be sending me off to be a nun. Oh my God I need a fag.

'Sorry, I'm going upstairs for a while.'

'You're not doing anything to set them off, are you sweetheart?' dad looked me up and down, probably wondering if I had it in me to become a suicide bomber.

'No dad, the thing must be faulty.'

Emmett gave me such a look that made me wonder whether he knew it was me, but I decided to ignore it and simply run upstairs. Before I entered my bedroom, I replaced the batteries in the smoke alarm with fake ones, so that the alarm wouldn't go off, and if dad checked, he would see "batteries".

I threw the window open and lit up in the same second, too stressed out to care what the long-term health affects were. Brian and Caroline had been cool when it came to things like this. Caroline often gave me fags, and I got drunk more than once when we were celebrating something.

I was about halfway through it when a knock on the door almost made me fall out of the window.

'Just a minute!' I called, frantically trying to wave away the smoke that was still lingering in the room, whilst chucking the fag into one of my unused Prada bags. Changing plans, I ran to the door and threw it open, but making sure I was blocking all views into my room.

'Alice?' sure enough, there was the little pixie, looking angelic on my threshold. She grinned at me, as she knew how surprised I was.

'Hey Bella, I've come to take you to my house.' I stared at her in shock; since when was I going to her house?

'Uhh okay... give me 5 minutes to get-' I had no chance to finish, as she dragged me from my room; still in the clothes that I had worn yesterday, which I had thrown on in my rush to get downstairs earlier on.

'You look fine as you are. Besides, we're just going to mess around anyway so you don't have to make yourself perfect.'

'Who said I was?' I said a little grumpily. I didn't like being ordered around at the best of times. She frowned a little at my attitude, but carried on half-dragging me down the stairs.

'Emmett help, I'm being kidnapped!' he was no use at all; he simply laughed at me and opened the door for Alice.

I had been putting off going to the Cullen house, and I guess they knew. So this is what it had come to, me getting kidnapped in order to go to a place that I wouldn't really care to be. In truth, I was more scared of Edward. Stupid I know, but he was the only reason I didn't want to go over. Stupid little rich boy.

'Hey, watch it pixie!' Alice had started pushing me into her canary yellow Porsche. Oh dear God they were rich as well as beautiful! How the hell am I supposed to put up with this?! I remember they live in a huge house, kind of like their own castle – King Edward, that sounds about right.

'Please don't struggle, Edward will kill me if I have to knock you out or something. But I can't be held responsible for my actions if you try and attack me or something.' She giggled. I turned the music up on the stereo on full blast, and we both sang and rocked out to "For a pessimist I'm pretty optimistic" by Paramore. Okay, so I'm kinda enjoying myself now, big deal!

'Alice, why today, I mean why have you just suddenly decided that you would kidnap me and take me to your house?'

'Bella, we've wanted you to come over for ages, but there's always been a reason for you not to. We thought that if you didn't come on your own, we would have to take you by force. So that's what's happened.' She gave me an angelic grin, but I wasn't fooled; this girl was more trouble than she was worth.

'I apologize for not making it round when I was in a coma.' Oooh sarcasm much.

'You should!' she laughed 'but everyone has been wondering when you will come over; especially-' I put my hand over her mouth to stop her from saying any more.

'Don't say it'

We pulled into the familiar long drive, and I found myself gulping in fear and anxiety. Hmm, I wonder if it would kill me if I jumped out of the car now…

'Well, what do you think?' I could only nod my head as we pulled outside the familiar white mansion, but it looked so much different in the daytime. The walls were white, and a huge trellis of ivy hung around the whole left side of the house. Next to it was a huge garage, almost as big as the house; gee, not only do they have lots of money and a huge house, they have to top it all off with a whole bunch of cars. I'm starting to like them less and less by the minute.

'Well come on then little sis, are coming inside or what?' Emmett opened my door for me, pulling me out and onto my feet as he did so.

'Jackass.' He simply laughed. I couldn't help but wonder where he got his simple ness from, me, mom and dad seemed to be quite smart, but Emmett… well he was a little simple.

'Come on, everyone's waiting inside.' Alice took me by the hand and led me up the marble steps, which finished at a large, oak door. She walked in, and, much to my embarrassment, everyone was waiting for us in the hallway.

Emmett went straight over to Rosalie, who of course looked stunning in light blue jeans, a matching denim jacket, and a black laced top and silver heels. She made everyone in the room look at least bad in comparison; she made me look hideous when I stood next to her.

Alice went right over to Jasper, who looked as tall and masculine as the first time I saw him. He wore deep blue jeans, a striped jumper which showed off his perfectly toned muscles and brown converse. He had so much love for Alice that it hurt to look into his eyes.

Carlisle and Esme stood in the far corner by a very large, very grand piano. She was very old-fashioned and lovely; she was wearing a deep purple dress which hung to her in all the right places, with silver high heels which made her as tall as Carlisle's shoulder. He wore a high necked blue shirt, with black trousers.

The one person I was anxious to see stood closest to me; he wore an old pair of blue jeans, the mans version of my Paramore top, and his black converse. He gave me a sly wink when he saw me looking.

'Hello Bella; oh it's so good to see that you've recovered!' Esme walked over and gave me a quick hug before assessing me. 'My goodness you're so thin! Come on, I made you something.' I looked around at Edward, who laughed and came with me and Esme into the kitchen.

For the moment I was glad of his presence, he made me feel calm – like a drug. Please no, please say I'm not addicted to Edward Cullen!

'You okay?' he asked, looking at my now pale face.

'Yeah sure.'

'Here we are Bella, anyway I'll leave you two to it.' Esme gave me an encouraging smile before leaving us alone in the kitchen. For a moment I simply looked out of the kitchen window at the forests surrounding the house, whilst Edward looked down at me. But then I turned to face him.

'So who sent Alice to kidnap me?' he laughed nervously and looked away 'Edward?'

'That would be me.' I couldn't help it, I just burst out laughing. 'What?' but there was a huge grin on his face too.

'I'm now being held hostage by the person who stopped me from getting captured in the first place!'

'Oh, yeah I guess I didn't see it like that.' He laughed with me, and headed over to the kitchen side, where he brought something over to me. 'Here, Esme made these for you. She reckons that you are too thin and are in need of some home cooking.' He rolled his eyes at me, which made me laugh even more. I think this was his goal, as he grinned hugely when he saw that he had amused me.

He held out a plate of chocolate chip cookies, but I was still laughing, and I didn't take them in fear of dropping it. Instead, he took one of the plate and started feeding me. I looked up at him strangely – this was something that you did with your boyfriend. But his face was so happy, and I hated it when he looked pained, that I let him carry on feeding me chocolate chip cookies. For a moment, I wished I could read his mind, so that I could know exactly how he felt about me at that moment, and whether this was planned or not…

'Okay no more, I may puke if I have any more cookies!' I laughed

'Yeah please don't! Come on, let's go and find the others, I think they wanted to show you the rest of the house.' He gestured for me to go first. I went in front, and he put his hands on my shoulders, directing me towards the living room.

It was truly beautiful; the floor was a pale cream carpet; the walls were made of a grey stone; on the eastern wall was a huge mirror, which was on top of a huge, old-fashioned fireplace; all over the walls were photographs of the family. It was very classic, like something from a Christmas movie.

'Hey Bella, Edward, do you want us to show you the rest of the house now?' Alice came bounding forwards to meet us, with Jasper in tow.

'I have to do something Alice, but you can take Bella can't you?' Edward said. She nodded, and he went outside, to do what I had no idea.

'Alright then Alice lets go.' She started towards the stairs, but I had another thought 'hey, where's Emmett and Rosalie?' there was no sign of them, yet you can hear my brother from miles away. Mwahhaaa this happens to be something I have inherited from him.

'They're outside; we'll go out there in a bit. So do you want to see the rest of the house? Oh wait, hang on a second.' She turned away from me to look at Jasper; I guessed she must have that determined look on her face, as he seemed to recoil slightly. 'Jasper, go outside with the others, I want to show Bella on my own.'

'Sure' he looked slightly put out, but nevertheless went out into the garden. Now why can't I control men that way?!

'Okay, come on then Bella.' We walked up the elaborate staircase, which by this point, I was surprised it wasn't made out of gold. We walked up one flight of stairs, before she stopped outside a door that matched the one in the hallway.

'This is mine and Jasper's room.' It had a red and blue theme – one that suited Alice very well. Everything was one of the two colours, right down to the clothes that hung off the end of the chair. She led me on to the next few doors, where I saw Esme and Carlisle's room, Emmett and Rosalie's room, and a guest bedroom. All were so large that I wondered how big this house actually was.

'Alice, how many floors does this house actually have?'

'3, but we don't have an attic.' I nodded, and once again found myself being led up a flight of stairs. Everything was in a personal style, and it hurt me to think that these people actually had a place where they belonged. Me, well I hadn't actually found the place I truly belonged yet; but I wasn't sad, I was used to it. Besides, if I didn't have roots anywhere, that means I can travel the world, finding new roots…

'This is Edwards room, what do you think?'

I stepped in, and saw a room with so much style that I envied him. The carpet was a thick gold, and was decorated with silver swirls; he had a huge stereo system, and millions of CDs; there was a huge flat screen in the corner, which looked more expensive than what Charlie had in the main room. With a sudden pang, I realized that he had no bed. What sort of person had no bed in a bedroom?! Sure he had a large leather sofa, but seriously, no bed?!

'Well, what do you think?' she seemed eager, but I could barely take it in after my recent discovery. The fact that they had no beds at all seemed so strange… 'Bella, you okay?'

'Huh? Oh yeah, it's just a really nice house.' I gave her a fake smile, which she seemed to take in, but I noticed that she looked at me more often after that. 'Where we going now?'

'Downstairs, Carlisle and Esme want to watch movies with us, they've been working so much lately…' she sighed and shook her head. In just that sentence, I saw that Alice was actually… well…normal. Just a normal girl who misses her parents when they have to work overtime; maybe I have more in common with her than I thought…

'Okay, sure, but I'm just going outside, I need some fresh air.' She raised her eyebrows at me, but nevertheless let me go outside whilst she headed into the living room where everyone else had assembled.

I had to have a cigarette, seems as though someone interrupted me this morning. I went round to the far side of the house, where even anyone looking out of the window wouldn't be able to see me. I had just lit up when I heard the front door slam, and the faint sound of Emmett and Rosalie's voices. Panicking, I ran again, looking over to my shoulder to where the noise had come from. I was so preoccupied with what was behind me, that I didn't notice what was in front. With a muted thud, I ran into someone; someone who caught me securely around the waist. I looked up, with my fag still in my mouth, to see a very shocked Edward Cullen.

His eyes were horror-struck as he saw what I had in my mouth, his hands got a tad firmer, and for a brief second, I thought he was going to rip it from me. I backed away a little, trying to release the tight grip he had on my waist, but part of me didn't want him to let go; part of me wanted him to hold me tighter…to never let go.

'Edward, Edward are you okay?'

'Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Come on, you don't want Emmett seeing you with that, I doubt he'd be very happy, not that I am mind.' He pulled me, his arm still around my waist, into the trees that surrounded his house. We went far enough in so that no-one going past could see or hear us.

'Thanks' I said, taking a long drag and sighing in content. I loved the way it made me feel totally calm and at ease. But Edward did not look so relaxed. In fact, he looked almost terrified. ''sup?'

'Smoking is bad for you Bella, didn't Brian or Caroline ever tell you that?' he frowned in disapproval.

'Caroline gave me fags when I ran out, and Brian let me get drunk and basically do whatever the fuck I wanted. Yeah, they weren't so great at the parenting thing.' I shook my head and started to laugh, but one look at Edwards face made me stop straight away. 'What's up?'

'Smoking kills.' His face was drawn with pain; pain for me; pain that I didn't deserve.

'Relax Edward; I'm not about to keel over!' I laughed 'besides, it's not as though I'm always on the coach eating junk is it? Nope, I'm always out on missions or training or something, so I don't think you really need to worry about me.' I took a long drag on my cigarette as if to prove my point.

'Okay okay, just promise me you'll keep yourself safe in future okay?' his face was so serious, I could do nothing but agree 'thankyou, you don't know what it means, the fact that you are going to actually try and keep yourself alive.' He sighed.

Why was Edward so bothered about whether or not I'm alive or not? Sure, he has a crush on me, but that's nothing a pretty blonde girl couldn't fix.

'If you don't mind me asking, what exactly do you do?'

'Uhhh well, I'm a spy working for a company called Zeiracorp in Seattle.'

'A spy?!'

'Yepp'

He gazed at me in a mixture of awe and shock, the combination was quite amusing, but I never laughed at him in fear of hurting his feelings. Something I was quite good at by now.

'Okay, so you're a spy. Does that mean you have all the guns and the gadgets?'

'Yepp'

'Does that mean you have to kill people sometimes?'

'Yepp'

'Your very blasé about all this aren't you?'

'Yepp.'

I stood there with my hands on my hips just gazing at him. He did the same, looking like he was assessing my face; he was utterly perfect.

'Edward…' I began

'Yes, what is it?'

'You will keep this a secret wont you? I mean if anyone found out that you knew… well let's just say that that would be very bad for you. I mean, what if they kill you, and it's my entire fault?!' I gave a very audible gasp. What if he did get killed because of me? I don't think I would be able to live with myself; Edward was simply far too good for me.

'Stop, stop! Look, I'm not going to tell anybody anything, and anything you might need you will come to me wont you?' what a freaking weird request

'Uhh yeah sure Edward, whatever you say.' I said, raising one eyebrow.

'I mean it! Whatever you need Bella, come straight to me.' His face was so certain and reassuring that I couldn't doubt him, not even for a second. So, reluctantly, I nodded. 'Good'

'Edward, we can only be friends, you understand that right?'

'I will never understand it Bella; I told you, I've never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. But… if you're certain.'

'Positive. I'm so sorry Edward.'

'I understand, but could I have one thing, just before you make yourself unavailable to me forever?'

'Of course you can!'

'Thankyou.'

He came closer and gripped me firmly around the waist, gently pulling me close to his chest. His hair brushed the top of my forehead, his nose touched mine, and then he brought his lips to mine. It wasn't like the first one, where we thought we would never see each other again; this kiss was tender and sweet. His lips had the best flavor, and I regretted the decision that I would soon have to make – the decision to stop. His lips moved in sync with mine; they were urgent, and I knew he had no will to stop either. After what seemed like hours, I did. I gently pulled away as I started to get a little dizzy. He rested his forehead against mine and looked deep into my eyes as we both tried to slow down our breathing. He leaned down and kissed me one last time before he let go and stepped away.

'Well, that was one hell of a friendship gift.' I said a little breathlessly.

'I'll miss that Bella; but remember I'll always be waiting if you change your mind.'

'You won't be saying that once you see some Barbie like blonde.' I said darkly, trying to find some way evidence that I would be able to stop myself before I ripped her head from her tiny shoulders.

'In case you haven't noticed, I've been living with a Barbie-like blonde for years, and she hasn't done anything for me.' He laughed 'I'll only ever see you Bella and you'll only be the one for me. Don't say anything; I'll just wait for you in case you change your mind.'

'O…kay?'

'Come on, the others will be wondering where we've got to.' He held his hand out, then remembered what he had just promised, and took it back in again. I smiled a little, and walked next to him back into the big house.

'Best friends?' I asked

'Best friends' he smiled, mussing my hair.