A/N: ok guys, sorry that took so long. like i said, i was busy (and got sick... yucky). but here it is! thanks to librina for helping me edit & such. enjoy!

Chapter 6

Alice's POV

It's a good thing Carlisle doesn't keep matches in the house, because if he did Edward and Emmett would be so dead right now.

After I drove Bella home and told her my excuse, I had a nice, friendly chat with them. Sure, I let out all that 'I will release my super-pyro powers on you TENFOLD!' judo crap, but after Jasper calmed us all down, we conversed in a tranquil environment using soothing voices to let each other know our feelings in a composed, peaceful manner.

In other words, I threatened them with fire and Atomic Wedgies.

I then explained to them that I had made up a story to tell Bella.

"Thanks to you two idiots, I had to make up an excuse for why Emmett was acting like the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Thankfully, you have a brilliant sister," I flattered myself, patting my beautiful spiky hair, "so I've solved all your problems." I may have had to lie to her, I thought, but at least Bella doesn't hate us… well, she doesn't hate me.

"You lied to her??" Edward accused incredulously, reading my thoughts for the millionth time.

"Well what did you want me to do?" I countered. "It's not like I could tell her the truth!"

"Yes you could have," he said calmly. "She might have understood."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. "But Edward," I tried to reason with him, "how would you have reacted if you were in her situation? If your friend told you that they were part of a family of vampires who drank animal blood to survive, didn't sleep, didn't age, didn't have to breathe, and had all died over 50 years ago, you wouldn't just say 'well alrighty then' and skip out the door to go pick daisies! You would be scared!"

"Maybe if that friend had realized that they shouldn't befriend a human earlier, none of this would have happened," Rosalie cut in nastily from her silent position next to the counter.

But no, she wasn't right. She couldn't be. This was not my fault. All I had done was make friends with a lonely new girl and invited her to come shopping with me. As far as I was concerned, I had done nothing wrong.

But Rose wasn't done. "Involving a mortal? It couldn't have had any good outcome," she sneered at me. "Although you shouldn't take all the blame," she continued, her voice dripping with false charm. "Edward and Emmett are also at fault. You could have endangered our whole family and everything we've been working so hard for. It's just another reason why humans should not butt-in where they don't belong," she said, a triumphant smile on her face.

I was about to comment, but Edward surprisingly stepped in first. "It's not her fault she got involved with us, Rose. Bella is not to blame here." I eyed Edward, trying to figure out why he was defending Bella. But apparently Rosalie thought she had found a reason.

"Oh, I see how it is," she said, her eyebrows rising, the smile growing on her face. "Edward doesn't want to blame poor Bella. It's not her fault. Well I've got news for you Edward: Bella is just another human. There is nothing special about her, not matter what you think. If you've grown so fond of her, maybe you should explain our little situation to her yourself." She gave him a sickly sweet smile, thinking she had won the argument. Rosalie then turned on her three-inch stiletto heels, and left the room.

But after just a couple seconds of my family's ominous looks and Edward's blank stare, I couldn't take it any more; I ran upstairs at my fastest vampire speed and slammed my door shut.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

There was a knock at my door.

It opened to reveal Edward's stony face coming forward to a stop next to me, looking out my window. He stood beside me, knowing my thoughts, feeling my anger and frustration. After a while, he started talking to me.

"Alice," Edward said, "I know you don't want to scare Bella by telling her, but…" He paused. "But I think—"

Edward's voice was suddenly cut off, but not because he had stopped talking.

Empty blackness filled in before my eyes. A minuscule picture was rushing quickly forward, rapidly becoming less blurry, easier for me to comprehend. Shapes were becoming visible. Places, and people, too. Finally, I could hear their voices.

One was musical and lower than the other, obviously male. A girl's voice floated together with the boy's, and they were discussing something in hushed, urgent tones.

"Bella," Edward's figure said, catching up to her and turning her around on the main school sidewalk to the parking lot. "I need to tell you something."

"Edward!" Bella said sounding flustered. "W-what's the matter? You seem… worried." She studied his face closer, but she only became more confused. When he still didn't answer, she continued. "You're impossible to read. What's wrong?"

Edward sighed, and then said, more hurriedly than before, "Most of my family would prefer I didn't tell you this. But I feel that it's necessary." He paused. "Bella, I need you to know—"

Edward was in front of me again, holding my shoulders.

"Alice! Are you okay? What did you see?" He sounded concerned. But right then, I didn't care.

"EDWARD! HOW COULD YOU TELL HER?? SHE'S PERFECTLY FINE NOT KNOWING!" I screeched. Super-sonic hearing or not, he was going to get a very loud earful.

Comprehension dawned on Edward's face. "But Alice, do you honestly believe—"

"Yes! She believes that Emmett likes to hunt, and that he was skinning the deer and got blood on his face getting the bullet out because that's what I told her! She's all right. I don't need you to go and mess everything up!" I vented, horrified that he would even be thinking of telling her. But to my utter disbelief, Edward chuckled.

"She actually believed that?" he asked me with a smile on his face.

"Of course she did," I said, a little warily.

"Alice, she's not stupid. Bella knows that something's going on; she'd have to be an idiot not to." He then said in a more serious tone, "If she were really your friend, you would tell her the truth, and not keep secrets from her."

I was appalled. How come Edward had to choose right now to become Mr. Ethics? I decided to take a different approach to my argument.

"Oh, so I guess we should just go around and tell everyone in the entire world that we're vampires, huh? Because they would take that so well, and the Volturi would love that. Oh yeah, everyone would get along and understand great." I gave him a look that went along with my heavy sarcasm.

"But Alice," Edward fought back, "Bella isn't just some random person. She's your friend. The first real friend you've had in almost a century! Trust me, people like her don't come around every day…" he trailed off, then looked urgently up at me, as if realizing that he'd said too much. But I was too mad to think of any alternative meanings that came from Edward's warped mind.

"Maybe you should just stay out of this, Edward, because you know what? It's really not any of your business. So just- just go away! I'm a big girl; I can handle it by myself. But don't tell her, you hear me?" I yelled, angry and frustrated. Screaming at him seemed to be the only way to get through to him.

Edward looked at me for a minute, and then started toward my door. But before he opened it, he said, almost as if talking to others as well as me, "Alice, I will respect your wishes as completely as I can, but I am still going to do what I feel is best for Bella; she deserves that much. If you cant give that to her, then I will."

He opened the door to reveal our brothers and sister leaning inward toward my door, as if listening to the softest detail of our conversation, though they had obviously already heard it all. I glared at them, daring them to come any closer. Edward, however, gave them and me a small smile, said "Hello," then walked down the hall and stepped down the stairs.

"Ugh!" I moaned, throwing my hands into the air. What a mess! There was only one this that could help me get through a time like this.

"Carlisle! Esme! I'm going shopping!" I screamed as I ran down the stairs and out to my car. "I'll be back in a couple of hours!" Then, just for good measure, I thought as hard as I could, Edward, you had better not tell Bella, or I will do worse than kill you!

"Obviously," he said while playing the piano, never missing a beat. I groaned again, knowing he was talking to me. I jumped into my car and gunned the engine; the sooner I got to the mall, the better.

A/N: well? how was it? review please!! and tell your friends! tell your enemies! tell your camp friends that enjoy making orange brownies, or your priest who loves playing the guitar and driving people mad! and yes... these are all real people. trust me.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Holidays! Hakuna Matata,

-RW