AN: Hi again X)
One thing before I start my personal AN-Rambling: Thanks for all your reviews! I was soooo happy after the last chapter – my eMail-box practically exploded from all your reviews! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Ah, and sorry that I didn't update yesterday. Somehow, I was just… lazy o.O° I was laying in my bed all day, dreaming and sleeping, it was great XD (Yeah, one of the great things of university: I have a free day on Monday so I can do whatever I want X) )
I hope, you'll like the chapter. In fact, it's my favourite… /big grin/ Maybe that's just because it's pretty fluffy… Anyway. I was singing "He is going to kill me" to the tune of "He's a jolly good fellow" all the while I was writing the chapter XD Stupid, I know, but funny and somehow fitting XD
So, I rambled enough. On with the story :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or New Moon. (If I want to say I don't own both: Do I have to say "and" or "or" o.O°?)
Chapter Nine – Trapped
Krrrk, krrrk, krrk
Hum? What was that…? Slowly, I opened my eyes. It was still dark outside, there was no light coming through the windows.
Silence.
Ok, so, maybe it was just my imagination. I rolled to the other side of the narrow bed and closed my eyes ones more, trying to get back to sleep.
Krrk, krrrrrrrrrrrrrk, thumb
Now, that wasn't my imagination. I heard Angela's sheet shuffle as she sat up in her bed.
"Angela? Did you hear that, too?" I asked while propping myself on my elbows.
"Hum? Oh, yeah. Well, maybe it's only a branch out there?" She answered, her voice still sleepy.
"But since when do branches make noises like 'thumb'?" I recognised the voice as Alice's. She sounded sleepy as well, however she managed to do that. Didn't she know anything? I mean, she was able to hear what or who was out there…
Knock, knock
"Weeee!" Lauren fell out of her bed with a squeaking noise. Somebody had knocked on the window above her bed. As I looked to the window, there were only some shadows of the nearby wood but no one who could have knocked on the glass.
"Wh-who's there?" Jessica asked with a shaking voice. It seemed, everybody in our cabin was awake again.
Again, there was silence.
"I know someone's out there, come and show you!" Alice called.
Then, there was a chuckle right on the other side of the wall next to my bed. Now, it was me who was squeaking. I jumped out of my bed and hid myself behind Alice. It was pathetic, I knew, but somehow I felt saver next to my vampire friend.
It was silent again for a short time. I could feel the tension building up in our room.
"Wasn't there that killer with a hook somewhere around this place…?" Jessica asked with a trembling voice.
Alice gave her a sympathetic look. "Hey, that was totally made-up, believe me, Jess. And think about it: If it was a true story, it happened many years ago. To be honest, somehow that chuckle we heard remembered me of someone…" She was staring to our door by then, having an angry glare in her eyes.
BOOM!
Something hit the door really, really hard.
Now, all
of us girls were screaming, even Alice. She wasn't scared right
now, was she?
Before
we could calm down, she was running on the upper edge of human speed
to the door and ripped it open.
"Emmett Cullen! I know it was you! Be a man and show yourself!" She shouted out into the night. Again, there was a ghostly chuckle but it was followed by silence. No one showed up.
Alice heaved a heavy sigh and closed the door again, slouching. "Beware, Emmett, beware… You can't hide all the time." She muttered under her breath.
„Alice? Why are you so positive it was Emmett?", Lauren asked as she sat back onto her bed.
"I know my brother, Lauren. That's just his kind of joke."
Alice climbed back into her bed. "Trust me girls, if someone is stupid enough to sneak in our cabin after that event right now, he will receive no mercy from me." She said while letting out a very low growl. I wasn't sure she wanted us to hear it, but it was so silent in our cabin right now that we did. Wouldn't it be me and my increasing knowledge of vampire behaviour, I would get the impression that she was angry beyond sense – but with mentioned knowledge, I could hear it wasn't an angry growl she let out. More of a… playful one. Anyway, the other girls didn't know it and backed away a bit, until their backs reached the wall behind them.
Alice turned around and slid into a sleeping position, her face turned to me. Although it was pretty dark, I could see she was grinning like a madman.
"Well, good night again, then…" Angela said, while slipping under her covers again.
"Good night." We responded and tried to sleep, too.
Something tried to wake me by poking the tip of my nose. I could feel it was a cold finger and since I was sure it wasn't Edward, I really hoped for Emmett's sake that it would be Alice. If Emmett would be sitting in front of me while I'd open my eyes, I would kill him for the last night.
That bothersome finger was still poking.
Slowly, I opened my eyes – it felt as if I had gotten no sleep at all during the last hours. Well, I hoped, that were hours I was thinking about. While I opened my eyes, I could already see a glimpse of light shining through the windows in our cabin. As soon as my eyes adjusted, I could see Alice sitting on the edge of my bed. She was grinning again.
"Good to see you awake, Bella. Someone's coming!" She whispered in a very low voice.
I yawned. "Hum?"
"I'm talking about boys, Bella. It seems as if there are two of that stupid species on their way to our cabin!"
Suddenly, I was fully awake and sat up in my bed. "Who?"
"I can't tell - my vision was really, really short and not precise in that part. I just know that they are two boys and they will be here within the next ten minutes." Now, her grin rivalled the one of the grinning cat from Alice in Wonderland.
"I'll wake the girls, while you change into your normal clothes. We will have to be prepared… Ah, and don't turn on the lights! They mustn't know that we are awake already!"
I just nodded my head and took out the things I wanted to wear today. A long, slightly washed out blue jeans and a comfy blue T-shirt. As I pulled my hair back into a pony tail, the other girls were already awake. No one tried to make a noise while changing into their clothes.
It was still slightly dark outside and as I glanced to my watch, it said it was six in the morning. That would explain why I thought I didn't get any sleep last night. I thought it would sum up to maybe five hours of sleeping time and that wasn't very much.
Alice showed us, where we would have to be standing – or to be more precise: hiding. We put our bags into our beds so it would look like we were still sleeping and hid in the corners and behind the door of our cabin.
Alice and I hid behind the front door. If those two idiots were sneaking into our room, we could shut the door behind them and they would be trapped. I had to grin a bit about that. The other girls hid behind their beds and the closets so they could surprise and overpower the boys.
Only a few seconds later, I could hear a voice.
"Oh, come on, you are such a chicken!" I recognized that voice as Mike's. Now, my grin got even wider.
"You're calling me a chicken? Let me tell you: I have something you don't have and it's called self-preservation."
Oh, no.
I would recognize that voice from miles away even if it would be whispering, while standing in a crowd of screaming people. Edward.
I
shot Alice a terrified glance. If Edward was about to sneak in, we
couldn't possibly do what we were going to do, could we? I mean,
overpower a vampire?
Oh, this has
to be a joke…
Alice just
grinned back. And that grin was reaching from ear to ear. Her eyes
were sparkling like crazy.
"Alice, we-" I began, but she put her hand over my mouth.
"Trust me, Bella." She whispered in a so low voice that I had troubles understanding her, even though I was standing right beside her. "But we have to overwhelm him together and fast – we should not risk any other human touching him."
I just nodded my head. Hopefully, Edward would just go away, ignoring Mike – but I knew he would never let Mike call him a chicken. But maybe, Edward read our thoughts while standing here and he would know what we were about to do? I meant: he could stand outside and watch… He wouldn't have to suffer himself.
But hey, I was thinking about Edward. Even if we would overwhelm him, he would easily break free and get away.
At least, that was what I hoped.
"Self-preservation? Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" That was Mike again. He was right next to our door now, his voice was quite loud. "What are you afraid of, huh? I mean, what's the worst those girls could do? Tickle you?"
I could practically see Edward's reaction. Well, in fact, I heard it. If there would be one other thing I would recognize in a group of screaming people, it would be his growl, no matter how low. This time, it was very low. Yes, he was definitely not happy about what Mike has said or thought. In that moment it was clear to me that he would come inside, even if there would be a vampire-eating dragon waiting for him in our cabin.
I heard Mike's voice again. "Be quite now, I think, they are still sleeping."
Right after he said that, our door opened with a little creak only a few inches wide.
"If you set a food in there, you'll set a foot in hell if the girls are awake - I hope you are fully aware of that fact." Edward reminded him once more. I had to smile. If he only knew what would await them… I mean, not that I knew it to the fullest myself. But I had a pretty good feeling that Alice already had something in her mind.
Mike whispered back: "As I said: chicken."
The door slit open a few inches more. Mike set one foot into our cabin, then the other. I could tell from his expression that he couldn't see much. He was just a few feet away from me but couldn't see me or Alice. It was going great.
Alice suddenly clamped her hand over my mouth. Oh, I forgot – Edward would be able to feel my breath. The sudden coolness sent chills down my spine.
Mike was by then standing in the middle of our room, apparently searching for something. He did not see that we were not in our beds…
The door moved again a bit and I held my breath. Edward didn't need to move especially carefully, he was silent by nature. If I wouldn't be able to see his pale skin only a few feet away from me, I wouldn't know he was already in our cabin.
Slowly, he moved a few feet further into the room. Something was bothering him, I could see it in his movements. They got more careful with every step he took.
By now, he was a few feet away from the still open door. Suddenly, his movements came to a stop and for a second, he closed his eyes. As he opened them only a heartbeat later, he looked frantically into the room.
Oh, no, he read someone's mind.
"Now!" Alice yelled, while tackling her brother from behind. Surprisingly, Edward went down, having to stop his fall with his hands. In the room, the other girls were trying to hold Mike down, who was already laying on the floor with his back pressed on the ground.
"Bella, I need you here!" Alice commanded. Ok Bella, try and tame that vampire…
I hurried next to her while she was trying to pin Edward down to the ground while kneeling over his waist. She was already fighting a loosing battle. Edward wouldn't dare use his vampire strength here but Alice wouldn't either. Having in mind that Alice was a lot smaller than Edward, he wouldn't even need his strength…
"Come here!" She demanded while pulling me right in front of her. It was a bit too fast for a human but our friends were still having problems holding Mike down, so they wouldn't have seen it.
Now, I was practically in the same position as Alice has been: Having my knees left and right from Edward's waist, Alice placed my hands on the spot between his shoulder blades and only a few inches under that place where his neck was ending to the chest. I was flaming red, I could feel it on my cheeks.
But that was not the only thing I could feel. First, there was that strange feeling in my gut. I could tell that this was the feeling all humans got around a vampire, since it made me quite nervous. Second, the feeling of betrayal. I mean, I was trying to pin my boyfriend down, normally that's nothing a girlfriend would do, right? And third, I felt completely helpless. Naturally, Alice was trying to hold at least his arms down, too, but nevertheless: I felt his muscles tense and work beneath me – although I was barely touching him – and I knew he was fighting with himself. Edward knew I would brag with it at least in front of Emmett that I had pinned him down as soon as my beloved boyfriend would be mean to me again – like snatching my credit card away once more. But he also knew that he couldn't just stand up and go away. It would make the girls curious.
And above all other things, Edward knew that the other girls would help me and Alice to pin him down if he wouldn't stop fighting soon.
The miracle happened. Eventually, Edward's resistance subsided.
I wasn't aware of the fact that I had stopped breathing when Alice pulled me on top of Edward but now my lungs screamed at me to breathe again. So I heaved a heavy sigh and loosened my hold on him a little. Alice let out a very low chuckle and I could feel Edward chuckle, too, although I couldn't hear him.
"How are you doing?" Alice asked towards the middle of the room, where Lauren, Jessica and Angela were holding the now completely helpless Mike down. Lauren was holding his left arm down, Angela his right one and Jessica was sitting on his legs. He couldn't move an inch.
"Everything's fine, Alice!" Angela called merrily.
"Ok… Lauren, I need you to block the door. Just stand in front of it, I hope the boys are clever enough not to try to break out again – even though they were stupid enough to break in." Alice commanded.
Lauren took a last glance towards Mike, then she stood up and positioned herself in front of the door. It was a miracle how Alice could command something and everybody would follow her orders, but I thought that was just one of their vampire abilities. Those could come in handy, so much was clear.
"Ok guys, we will let you stand up but trust me: If you are trying to run, my wrath will be unbearable. Understood?" The female vampire in asked.
"Yes…" But Mike's answer sounded more than a frightened question than a simple response.
I could feel that Edward was chuckling again under me. My hands were now laying loose against his back – would he 'seriously' try to break free again, I wouldn't be able to stop him.
"Edward? Did you understand me?" Alice asked in a warning tone.
Edward stifled his chuckles and answered with a velvety voice: "Yes, Alice, I understand."
Once more, Alice looked at Mike, then at Edward and then to Lauren, who was still standing in front of the door.
"Ok, Angela, Jessica, let Mike stand up. Bella, don't move."
I did as I was told and watched while Jessica and Angela were moving away so Mike could stand up. He rubbed his arms where Angela and Lauren had pinned him down. Apparently, they have had a tight grip on him.
"What, Cullen? Defeated by two small girls? They even needed three to fight me." He bragged with a smug grin plastered on his face.
I knew it would sound hilarious to Edward and Alice but I was sure I could give Mike chills running down his spine by doing it. I tried to growl. "I'm not small. And if you say something like that again I'll come and show you what I'm capable of." I said through clenched teeth while I was glaring at him. It worked: He even backed away two feet. It was an empty thread but he didn't know that.
Alice was grinning at me like a madman and I could feel Edward was holding his breath so he wouldn't laugh out loud himself. Nevertheless, I could feel chuckles building up in his chest.
Alice looked back to the three standing teens in front of us. "Take him to the right corner, I don't like him standing in the room so freely."
Both girls gripped his wrists and started dragging him into before mentioned corner.
Mike looked scared. "Hey, what's going on? Can't you just forget what I did and let me go? I mean, there was no harm done, and-"
"No, Mike, believe us, you're going to suffer." Angela told him. I never knew she could sound so… intimidating.
Angela and Jessica were now standing a few feet in front of Mike, who was pressed with his back against the corner of the room. I had to grin. He would never forget this morning, I was sure about that. Defeated by a bunch of girls…If it weren't Mike, I would feel pity for his ego.
Alice eyed Edward suspiciously. "You're not going to do something stupid, are you?" She asked.
"I'll behave, I promise." Edward said in his most velvety voice. Wait a moment, did he try out his power on his sister?
Yes, he did. Furthermore: It worked. I could see Alice's eyes glanced over as she released her grip on Edward's arms.
Now, it was just me on his back, holding him down. He could feel the muscles in my hands tense as I tried in a pathetic attempt to get back my hold on him.
"You can set me free, Bella, I won't do anything. Believe me." This time, he didn't use his I-can-let-you-make-whatever-I-want voice. After a small hesitation – and a low chuckle from him – I got up and stepped a foot away so he had enough room to stand up himself.
Just as Alice before, I shot him a suspicious glance when he was standing in front of me. He just gave me his crooked smile and winked at me. Then, he got off to stand besides Mike – he already knew what Alice had planned so far in her head.
Now, Alice got off from the ground, took my hand and together, we joined the small semi-circle with Angela and Jessica. It was the first time that I actually saw what Mike and Edward were wearing. Both were dressed in knee-length swimming shorts since we wanted to go swimming this day, normal sandals and button-up shirts. I just caught a very short glimpse of Mike's clothing, since I was captured by the way Edward looked. His shorts were a dark navy blue with an even darker stripe on the side of his legs, subtly hinting on its designer origin. His shirt was a matching blue colour but a bit lighter than the blue of the shorts. It had short sleeves so one had an unlimited view on his muscular arms.
Alice clicked her fingers in front of my face and I let out a low squeak, which was followed by several chuckling noises all around me. Edward was directly grinning at me while trying to stifle his laugher.
No, please, somebody tell me that I wasn't ogling at my boyfriend in front of all those people around me…
I spun around to hide my face at least from Edward. I was mortified and my cheeks were burning furiously.
As the laugher and chuckling subsided, Alice started the interrogation. I was still turned with my back to Edward, looking at my feet in embarrassment. "Ok, guys, what did you want to do in our cabin at this time of the day?"
"Nothing?" Mike asked. His answer as too fast to believe – and the fact that it came out as a question didn't help it either.
"Oh, really, nothing… Well, you were searching for that nothing pretty hard when you stood here in our room before we fought you down." Jessica stated.
Mike tried anew. "Well, uhm… We…"
I felt my blush go away and turned around again – although I tried to avoid looking at Edward's face.
"What Mike wants to tell you, ladies, is that he wanted to show what a great robber he can be. His plan was to sneak in, fetch something personal from Jessica and sneak out again without being noticed. And before you do anything rash, Jessica –although I could understand you- by talking about personal stuff I mean something like your hairbrush. If he would have gotten out with anything what you have in your mind right now, I would have made him go back inside and apologize. Though stealing isn't something a gentleman should do, stealing that kind of stuff is below the belt." All the while he was talking, Edward had looked Jessica straight into the eyes and now, Jessica looked like she couldn't decide between slapping Mike square in the face or thinking about the fact that Edward had really talked to her – while even using more than one sentence. I just hoped she would remember how to breathe before she would faint. Her eyes already had this a-Cullen-boy-talked-to-me glint in them.
Mike
wanted to punch Edward between the ribs with his elbow but when he
tried, Edward just evaded by stepping one foot forward. How would he
explain Mike why he would suddenly have a broken elbow?
He glared
at Mike, then stepped back and leaned again against the wall, his
hands in the pockets of his shorts. He looked like a god.
Ah! I'm ogling again!
I
shook my head and took a deep breath. Maybe that would help me.
It didn't.
Edward's scent was all over the place and it was making me dizzy.
"Alice?" I whispered while leaning to her ear.
"Hm?"
"Would it be a problem if I'd open a window?"
She grinned – I thought, she already knew why.
"No problem, but take the one on the other side of the room." She answered.
"Ok, thank you."
I strode to the window and while I opened it, Alice continued her interrogation.
"Ah, ok, so that explains why Mike was here. But what about you? Did you need lessons in how to steal something from a helpless girl?"
I went pack to the place I had and looked at Edward. He was grinning.
"My dear Alice, I wouldn't call you girls helpless. You already proved that you are well capable of defending yourselves."
I let out a low chuckle and thankfully, it went unnoticed. Well, it would have if there wouldn't be two vampires standing next to me. Both shot me a short glance but went back to glaring at each other after it.
"You didn't answer my question." Alice stated matter-of-factly and Edward took in a deep breath.
"There are several reasons why I broke into your cabin. The first is that this person next to me challenged me in a way I couldn't refuse. The second reason… Well, to tell the truth, I was curious. Since you make such a big deal of hiding your room, I wanted to know what all that fuss is about." He confessed.
"Well, that's not much more gentlemanlike than sneaking in just to steal something from a girl…" I noted while trying to hide a grin from my face.
He narrowed his eyes looking at me and although I knew he wasn't angry, I got the feeling that I was close to getting into trouble.
Alice stepped in and rescued me. "Bella is right. What Mike did wasn't nice but what you did wasn't nice either. I think, we will have to punish you… I mean, I don't want to stay up all night because I'm too scared that you two will try to get in again."
It was hard to contain my facial expression when she said she would have to stay up all night. I tried to cover my grin with the back of my hand and searched for something on the walls to stare at. I knew that if I would dare to look at Alice or Edward right that moment, I would break into a horrible laughing fit again. I already had that yesterday, that was enough for a long time.
"Punish?" Mike asked meekly. He didn't like the idea of being punished, that was clear. Edward just looked… suspiciously at Alice. It seemed that Alice blocked her mind or wasn't yet sure what to do to those poor boys in front of her.
"Yes, punish. But what to do with you…" Alice mused.
"I have an idea." Lauren said while still standing at the door.
All of us but Alice turned around. Alice herself gave Lauren a signal to go on while still holding her gaze on Edward and Mike in case they would do something stupid.
"Well, some years ago, I have been here with my family. We went here because of that wonderful warm lake right next to this camping ground. Anyway, one day, we made a small walk up the river which flows through that lake. After some time, longer than half an hour but shorter than a full hour, we reached a small waterfall." The longer she talked, the slower she became.
I was a bit confused. What would a waterfall have to do with a punishment?
But apparently, Alice understood what Lauren was talking about.
"Sounds nice, Lauren, but a warm waterfall isn't something that could be called a punishment, wouldn't you agree?"
"Alice, that's exactly the point. I didn't say that the waterfall has warm water in it, right?"
A huge grin made his way on Alice's face while Mike was paling considerably. Edward just looked uncomfortable.
"It's cold, right?" Alice asked just to be sure.
"Ice-cold." Lauren said with a matching voice.
By now, every girl in the room was grinning like a madman while staring at poor Mike and Edward.
"So, I think, their punishment is set." Jessica said. "But… How do we get them to that waterfall? I mean, it was easy to use the moment of surprise and attack them but I have a little doubt that keeping them in check will be so easy out there in the woods."
"She has a point." Angela stated.
"Yes, she has." Alice agreed while still grinning. "But I have the perfect solution for that problem."
Alice looked at Jessica and me. "Jess, Bella, go get the ropes."
Jessica giggled like crazy and went to retrieve one of the long ropes. Until now I didn't even know that there was more than just one, but maybe Alice had cut them when she saw we would have more than one guest.
I looked at the female vampire next to me as if she had lost her mind. "You don't really mean that." I stated.
She just flashed me a very wide grin, showing her teeth. "Yes, I do really mean that." She said merrily.
"We're not going to tie Edward up." I whispered in a low voice only she should've heard. "Please say, we won't."
In a low voice matching my own, she answered: "No, we won't, Bella." Thank you, Alice! "You will."
What?!
I just wanted to say something but she put a finger on my lips to stop my protest. "Bella, you're the only one who could do that. I won't let any other human do it and I can't do it myself."
I looked at her in utter confusement.
"He'd try to fight me off and trust me, he would win that battle. But he would never dare to fight against you because he could easily hurt you while I'm nearly indestructible."
Well, that made sense.
I tried to snatch a glimpse at Edward out of the corner of my eye. He was still leaning casually at the wall but as he looked me in the eyes it was as if he had told me "Try it and you'll be in trouble."
I took in a deep breath. Ok, now I had to choose: Having Edward against me or having the girls – including Alice – against me. As much as I tried, I couldn't find a way to avoid either side's wrath.
Sorry Edward.
I went to the rope which was still lying on the floor, picked it up and went back to Alice's side.
Mike was as pale as a sheet of paper right now and it looked like he was trying to back away through the wall. Edward was still calm, although I could see that he would preferably try to run away just like Mike. I couldn't hide a smile about that thought.
The rope in my hands wasn't a very thick one. Maybe two or three centimetres in diameter. Anyway, it had almost half a meter's length.
"Ok, I think, it will be enough to tie them up at their wrists. That way, they won't be able to hold their balance when they try to run and so it will be easier to catch them again. Ah, and by the way, boys, if you really want to try and run away, your punishment will be harder. Trust me." Apparently, Alice had the time of her life. She was still grinning like crazy and her eyes twinkled with amusement.
"Mike, Edward, would you please step forward so that Jess and Bella get a good hold on your wrists? The more you work together with us, the less time you'll be standing in the cold water. I promise." She commanded.
Mike looked like a caged animal. Apparently, he thought about his statement from earlier: 'They are just girls, what's the worst they could do?' Well, it seemed that we were at least able to crush his ego.
As I looked towards Edward, my heart seemed to skip a beat. He wasn't happy with what we had in mind – well, to be more precise: what his sister had in mind. He eyed me suspiciously, glanced over to Mike, sighed and stepped forward.
"Do whatever you have to do." He said while his eyes locked with mine. I couldn't look away anymore and gulped. That made him grin a little. He blinked once to release me from his spell and as I cautiously stepped towards him, he asked in a very low but slightly concerned voice "Scared?"
I took in a deep breath and reached carefully for his right wrist as I stepped behind him. "Not really but… I'm in trouble, right?" I whispered so low that nobody else was able to hear it while I stroke over his wrist to the middle of his hand. Apparently, Jess and the other girls had a hard time holding Mike still enough to tie him up. They made quite some noise.
He chuckled, closed his cold hand around my own one but released it a few seconds later while voluntarily putting his left wrist over his right one. He bent his head and looked over his shoulder down on me. With a playful smile and an amused glint in his eyes, he said: "You have no idea how deep in trouble, my love."
I chuckled a bit and then tried to tie his wrists together. It was more complicated that I had thought, but when Alice came to look at my work, I had managed to tie them together. Even if he would run away – if he would try, he would succeed, I was positive about that fact – it would make no difference if his wrists were tied up. He could rip them apart in seconds – even if they would be made of steel. That was another fact I was absolutely positive about.
As Alice stood next to Edward to look what I had managed to do to his wrists, Edward was growling at her. Well, I could feel it more than hear, to be honest.
Anyway, Alice ignored it.
"Great, Bella. Good that you chose to work together with us, brother dear." She giggled and Edward made one more step towards her.
"Ah, no, no, no, Edward. Behave – you even promised it when Bella released you from your pinned position. I think you can remember it." She grinned at Edward who was just glaring back at her.
If I was in trouble for following Alice's orders, what about Alice herself? Somehow I doubted that she will like our ride back home… If Edward won't get back on her before that.
By now, Jessica had managed to tie up Mike. He looked mortified and struggled with the rope in the hope that no one would see his attempts to break free again.
"Bella, Edward is all yours now. Handle with care." She winked at me and put my hand over the final knot of Edward's rope. "Be careful, Edward can be pretty tricky if he wants to." She warned in a low voice before turning back to Mike.
I had to chuckle a bit about her last comment. Without much thinking, I put my second hand next to my first one and stroke up and down his forearm. Maybe I imagined it but it seemed as if he relaxed a bit under my touch. I had to smile about it.
I could hear Alice scolding: "Mike, if you continue to struggle like that, your wrists will be sore and hurting in less than a few minutes. Trust me, you don't want to risk that."
"Lauren? I guess you still know the way, right?" Angela asked Lauren.
"Yeah, sure. The path is easy to find – although a certain someone in this group will have serious problems walking on it." I didn't need to see her to know that she shot daggers with her glare at me. I could hear a growl making it's way to the surface inside Edward's chest and laid one hand on his back. As if on cue, the growl subsided and I could feel him taking in deep breaths to calm himself.
"It's ok, I'm used to that." I whispered to him.
As a response, he bend his fingers to stroke my wrists. In fact, it tickled a bit.
Alice looked at Jessica, still with a glint of amusement in her eyes. "Ok, now… Since we won't let the boys die because of catching a cold, Jessica, we need one of your towels. Mike will have to dry himself up when we're finished."
Jessica told her in which closet she had put her towels and Angela went to get one of the bigger ones.
Before Alice could ask, I told her where to find mine. They were laying beneath my bed, since I had no room for them in the closet. They were huge – I could hide behind them when one of those would be hanging somewhere.
Alice snatched a blue one and smiled at me.
"Ok, girls, let's go! It already half past seven, I think, the other boys are wondering where Mike and Edward are at this moment, and we still have a long way to go in front of us. Any last questions or last wishes?" She asked with a wicked glint in her eyes.
Since no one answered, she opened the door and mentioned us to get out.
Lauren was the first one besides Alice who got out of our cabin, followed by Angela and Jessica who were practically shoving Mike out of our room. I got the impression that he'll be standing under that waterfall for quite a long time…
As all the others were out, I glanced up to Edward. "You won't make any trouble, will you?"
Even though he had his face facing forward I was standing behind him, I still could see him grin. "Who knows? I think, it will be up to you to watch after me and make sure I'll behave, my love." He bent his head one more time and winked at me while giving me a warm smile.
I let out a low chuckle and gave Edward a small shove in the direction of the front door.
A second later, we stepped out of our cabin into the light of a new and pretty cloudy day.
AN: (somehow I'm getting used to double-ANs... Sorry ;) ) I hope, you liked the chapter. Please tell me, what you think of it - and if you want to ask why Edward was already standing inside the room when he knew something was wrong, just wait for the next chapter ;) Trust me, there's a reason to it X)
And about this chapter: I wanted it to be part of the chapter I was going to write right after the initial AN. I thought it wouldn't take more than two, maybe three pages. Apparently, I was wrong - It takes about 9 or 10 pages in Word. So I had to split up the chapter... ;) I'll post the next as soon as possible and believe me when I say that it might have even more fluff in it than this chappi... ;) Is there anything better than fluff...?
Anyway (I love that word), it's 00:39 right now and I have to go to university tomorrow, so I should go and get some sleep now... I'd be happy to read some reaviews after I get up again ;) They're much better than the newspaper while eating breakfast ;)
