A/N: To all my faithful readers and reviewers I just want to say thanks. You guys really bring me some lulz and I appreciate it. As for my cat, her paws are as colorful as ever (but my floor is squeaky clean). In bad news, today I slammed my hand in a car door and broke it. : (. My dad, being a paramedic, therefore thinking he can fix EVERYTHING, decided to wrap it himself and put it in a brace so we didn't have to pay a hospital bill. Ergh.

Chapter 10

I braided Maria's black hair tightly around the back of her head for the party tonight and helped her into her new black corset she wore over a purple dressed that looked oddly familiar to the one Rosalie wore to the ball my first night here. I wore a soft pastel blue dress with a roman cut so that the material would drape loosely over my protruding stomach and Rosalie wore a deeper blue dress. I finished tying purple ribbons through Maria's braids and let her examine herself in the mirror. She accepted it and then looked at Rosalie, whose golden locks hung loosely around her shoulders under a halo of blue flowers and ribbon.

Maria frowned and narrowed her eyes. She knew Rosalie looked prettier than her. "Rose, please pull your hair back, it looks wild and you'll only embarrass yourself if you go to the party like that." She demanded crossing her arms. Rosalie looked like she could cry.

"I'll do it for you Rosalie" I volunteered before Maria could and sabotage Rosalie's beauty. Rosalie only nodded her head slowly and sat down at the vanity, her face in shock.

I hated that Maria had just lied to Rosalie like that so that she wouldn't outshine her. I made a mental reminder to tell Rosalie later that her hair looked wonderful. I worked carefully at her hair, curling it into a twist under her flower halo and letting some soft white curls fall loosely around her face and neck. When I was done, Rosalie hugged me and let Maria appraise her.

I could see Maria's face turn a deep red and she huffed. "It's alright I guess" she couldn't stand that she still looked better than her.

We followed Maria silently to the dining hall. Rosalie shuffled next to me suddenly self conscious for the first time. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it and mouthed the words 'you look beautiful' to her. She seemed to relax and we stood at the head table waiting to be seated.

Maria and Jasper sat in the center at the two largest seats and Rosalie and I sat at Maria's left side. On Jasper's right side were Emmett and a French servant to Jasper named Laurent. There was an empty seat at my side and I looked at Maria with curiosity.

"It's for Jacob. I figured it was only fair that we let the father of your child sit up here" she snapped and I sighed. I felt like I was so deep into this life we had created that I would surely never get out.

Jacob arrived and took a seat next to me, winking. Edward was playing the violin for the evening's entertainment, so we didn't see much of him or Bella, who was cooking for tonight.

As the night wore on and people spotted my bulging tummy and me sitting next to Jacob, an unmarried man and I an unmarried woman, the harsh talk began to spread like a disease throughout the dining hall.

People whispered and pointed and asked if they could pray over my unholy conception. I felt like screaming, like running away from these people and this place. I had smeared Jacob Black's good name and he was an innocent man. I slipped off into the kitchen, where Bella was hard at work.

"Hey, Ali, what's going on?" she beamed at me and I shrugged.

"I don't know, Bells. I'm so sick of everybody judging me for this. And Jacob! Oh, poor Jacob" I sat down on the counter and threw my arms up in surrender.

"Don't worry this will all work out" she smiled. I laughed at her optimism and grabbed her face.

"You and Rosalie like to tell me that a lot you know?" she chuckled and I gently prodded her tummy. "We get to raise our kids together. Edward's been gushing about it all day" I grinned.

Bella blushed and sighed. "I hope you have a boy and I have a girl so that they can get married" she said dreamily. I laughed and leapt back onto the floor.

"They're not even born yet and you're already planning their weddings. Slow down, Thunder" I patted her shoulder and slipped away from Bella and back into the Dining Hall.

Jasper stopped me in the crowd and protectively placed his hand on my bump. "Are you okay?" he had so much concern in his voice all I could do was narrow my eyes.

"What are you talking about, Jazz?" I gazed up at him and he sighed.

"I've been hearing the things they're saying about you, and I just wanted to make sure that you weren't upset." He gently brushed a strand of hair behind my ears. I nodded and smiled at him.

"I ignore it" I reassured him.

"You're a little trooper"

"So they say" I caught a glimpse of Maria and scooted away from him. "I should go. I love you" I whispered before I ducked out of sight and slinked to a new hiding spot just outside the dining hall. Jacob peered around the corner at me and threw his head back in a hearty laugh.

"Are you hiding too?" he joined me at my side and I smiled up at him apologetically.

"I'm so sorry I got you into all this. I promise we'll sort it out." I flashed him my best smiled and he just chuckled.

"I honestly don't care what the people around here think of me. Don't worry about it Alice." He reassured me. He pulled me into a deep tight bear hug and I yawned.

"I'm going to bed. I can't take these fools anymore" I rolled my eyes and Jacob nodded his head in agreement.

I strolled through the halls back to my quarters and shuffled my sheets around on my bed to create my own personal nest. I curled myself into it and flipped my now long black hair into my face so that I could play with it. I twisted little braids into my hair and sang to myself a song Edward taught me when I heard a sniffle. I looked up to see Rosalie sitting on her bed in a ball.

"Rose, what's wrong?" I flipped my hair over my shoulder and sat up. I could see that her face was tear streaked and she had a scarf wrapped tightly around her head. Nothing comprehensible was coming out of her and I stood up and walked to her. "Roses, please talk to me." I pleaded taking her hands into my own. She slipped her slender fingers out of mine and pulled the scarf from her head. I gasped.

Rosalie's long waist length blonde hair had been chopped off to her ears in a boy cut. I could see the chunks that were shorter than others and her hair was choppy as if somebody had taken a knife to it. "Rosalie, who did this to you?" I demanded. She looked up to me with her watery blue eyes and muttered.

"Maria. She told me that my hair was hideous and that I was an embarrassment and she took a knife from the kitchen and… and.. sh..she…" she couldn't even finish the sentence. She burst into hysterics and my anger boiled up. I was going to kill Maria. How dare she do this to someone as lovely as Rosalie. Someone who was practically my sister.

"Wait right here." I told Rosalie. I was going to Emmett. We were putting an end to this now.

A/N: Ugh so I've really made myself hate Maria. Poor Rosalie. And the haircut I'm talking about is like edie segwick short, not like Alice's pixie cut. So Rose is going to have to learn how to rock the dyke cut I s'pose. She'll make it work I'm sure. BTW I rocked a short short boy cut for a while so I'm not making fun of anyone who might have one, it's just that it's Rosalie and her hair is like jesus.