CHAPTER SEVEN
Alice was right. I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, and somewhat happier. I was surprised to wake up on Edward's bed—the one he had bought when he had left for a hunting trip and had Alice 'kidnap' me (Author's Note: This is in Eclipse). However, my happy mood could not cure my hideous looking hair, something that Alice was bound to renovate.
Just as I had predicted, Alice came bounding in about three seconds later with a hairbrush, hair products, (including gel, dye, and many other things that she could not pay me to use) and a pile of clothing hanging off her right arm. If she were human, the colossal weight of all these beauty products would probably tear her arms off, not to mention leave them sore for many, many weeks.
"Alice!" I moaned, "Please, no."
"I saw this in my vision, Bella, you'll love this. Well, maybe you won't like the process, but I assure you, the result will definitely be satisfying."
Inwardly, I groaned again, but obliged to what she wanted me to do. Seeing my small nod, a gigantic smile appeared instantly on her face, quite a funny sight on her pixie-like features, and I would've laughed had she not subjected me to be tortured with a comb.
I got up, instinctively doing my bed; fluffing out the pillows, pulling the covers down, and such. As I turned to look at Alice again, she looked at me, baffled. I was just as surprised.
"Which one should I use?" she asked, gesturing to one type of hair gel and another.
"Neither!" I said, "Alice, please don't do this to me!"
"I promise I won't go overboard," she assured me, "I just want to make you look nice for your first day back at school."
Oh, I thought, that's why. But then, I thought of something else, "Why?" I asked, "So I can have all the guys staring at me, and Lauren glaring at me like I've just murdered her entire family again? Because I can tell you right now, I will not do that."
"Fine, hair gel is out of the question," Alice said, "I don't like how it turns out."
I breathed out, and then continued, "Alice, could you get me some water?" to distract her, I thought to myself.
"Of course," she dropped everything she was holding (which was quite a lot) and dashed downstairs, and was sitting on my bed again before I could blink. In her hand was a glass of water, just what I asked for, and she passed it to me.
"Thanks," I murmured the fire in my throat completely gone.
"Welcome," Alice muttered absentmindedly, then seemed to remember what she was talking about, "And, anyway, it can't hurt. I'm a vampire, I have forever to grieve, and well, you understand. But your lifetime will pass by so quickly, if you spend the rest of it missing Edward, I know you will not enjoy it. Where's the harm in finding a human to spend your life with?"
"The harm is that I don't want to!" I almost yelled, "I don't want anyone but Edward. I won't be happy with anyone but Edward! I REFUSE to be happy with anyone but Edward!" by the end of my little rant, Alice seemed dazed again, though I knew this time, it was because of a vision.
I knew better than to try to get Alice to pay attention to me while she was 'foreseeing' something. I sat quietly, savoring the last moments of quietness before Alice started chattering uncontrollably again, not to mention kill me with all of her 'weapons.'
After a few more minutes, Alice snapped out of her vision, if not involuntarily. It seemed that she did not see anything of great importance, as she started prodding me with a brush again. After several hairdos, which included dying my hair bubblegum pink, wounding it into a bun on the back of my head, pigtails on the side, and quite a few more rather ridiculous styles, she finally seemed to get it right. Handing me a mirror, I gasped, for the person in the reflection could not possibly be me. She hadn't changed the color of my hair, but made tiny braids with my chestnut brown hair, running down the sides of my head, which she then tied up to the top of my head. There was makeup all over my face, covering up almost all of my skin. However, I couldn't complain that it was ugly—it was one of Alice's best creations, and considering all those 'creations' that Alice made...
"Thanks," I told her, "You were right!"
She then packed my bag for me at vampire speed, then ran home to get her Porsche. I walked downstairs slowly, holding the rail, and trying not to wreck my newest hairdo by tripping down a stair. When I finally got down to ground level, I went to the kitchen immediately. Pouring myself a bowl of cereal, and of course, adding in the milk, I quickly ate my breakfast, rinsed, and replaced the bowl and spoon.
No more than five minutes later, Alice reappeared, moody Jasper in tow. I was surprised—I hadn't seen Alice's 'husband' in a long time. I saw him look up to meet my eyes for a brief second, before staring down at the floor. I felt my face starting to get red, curse my stupid habit of blushing!
The whole way Alice drove me to school, I stared down at the floor. Everything was silent, not one person (which included the vampires) spoke, and it was starting to get a bit awkward when finally we arrived. Alice definitely wasn't her usual chattering, cheerful self. As we pulled up into a parking space, I noted several people pointing at us. Whether it was because of my appearance, or the car, I couldn't tell.
As I walked across the parking lot, I realized that people were staring at me. Probably because of what Alice had done to my hair, I thought, that's it. I quickened my pace, my bag slung over my shoulder. The bell rang, leaving a buzz in my ear. I was going to be late—not that the teachers would notice, now that half the entire school was outside staring at me.
By the time I'd gotten to first period—English—my cheeks were scarlet. I tried to concentrate on what the teacher was talking about, but that was a bit difficult when the whole class was basically analyzing your every move. Luckily, Alice was sitting beside me, whispering; don't worry, over and over in my ear. Now, I was a bit sorry that Jasper hadn't come with us.
When first period ended, I ran into Lauren Mallory, of all people. "Hey, bitch," she said, (Author's Note: Sorry for the language, but I'm trying to get Lauren's personality, and it isn't all that easy, without using the word with the definition of a female dog) "Where were you? We missed you, didn't we?" she asked, pulling Jess out of the crowd heading off to gym.
"Umm... sure, yeah. Look, Lauren, I have to go, I promised Mike I—" she trailed off, running away at first opportunity.
"Please, Lauren, just leave me alone," I said, keeping my eyes level with hers.
"All polite now, aren't we?" she sneered, "Thought your reaction would be something like that."
"Umm... yeah. So if you'll excuse me..." I dodged past her, and blended in with the mob heading off to second period biology.
I tripped once on the way there, and was caught unexpectedly by... the stranger looked oddly familiar, in a strange way. I was absolutely positive that I had never seen him before, but then I noticed the golden hue in his eyes. He lifted me up with freezing cold hands, and smiled once, before walking away.
I spent all of biology in a daze, not even noticing when the teacher picked me to answer a question. Who was this mysterious stranger? I knew for sure that he was a vampire, and a vegetarian one, at that. Did he know Edward? I decided to corner him after school to see.
By the time it was lunch, I was practically in a coma. I decided to ask Alice about this 'person.'
"Alice," I said, playing with the apple I was holding in my hand, "Do you know... about any other vegetarian vampires?"
"Of course," she answered, "There's the Denali coven in Alaska."
"No, I meant here," I amended, "Here, in Forks."
"Why do you ask?" she sounded surprised.
"I... think I saw one today," I replied.
"How?" she asked, a bit skeptical.
"Well, I was on my way to biology... when I tripped, and well..."
"He caught you, yes. I think I remember seeing something about that, but I never thought he could be a vampire."
"I'm pretty sure," I said, "He had golden eyes, and his skin was really cold."
"Our topaz eyes may not be common, Bella, but they aren't impossible to come across on a human. And have you considered that he may have just come in from outside? It's quite cold today."
"Oh," I said. Of course I had considered this possibility, but I guess I was too focused on thinking about whether he knew anything about Edward. "I was thinking maybe we could... ask him, after school."
"We can't risk asking directly if he isn't, Bella," she said, "It might reveal that we are. The Volturi don't give second chances, remember."
I bit into the apple, then continued, "What if we ask indirectly?"
"Like, how? Go up to him and ask whether he's related to Dracula?"
"Yes, something along those lines, probably," I admitted.
"Why do you want to know, Bella?" she asked.
"I want to see... I want to know whether he knew something about... Edward."
