New update. I own nothing recognizable, and please review!

The three week anniversary of Renee's leaving was spent at the Swan's house for the first time since the incident. It was a Friday night, and we were all just sitting around, not sure what to do with ourselves. It was strange, not having Renee swinging in at any moment, and Charlie was making himself rather scarce. Emmett and I - of course - hung out in his room, sitting on his floor and playing a snowboarding video game (one I actually understood). When bed time came, the girls stayed in Bella's room and the boy's stayed in Emmett's room.

"Night, Teddy Bear," I said, leaning up for a kiss. "I'll be across the hall if you need me."

Emmett hugged me tightly, kissing me softly. "Night, Pixie Princess. I always need you."

I kissed his nose playfully, then went to Bella's room and threw myself in between her and Rose. I awoke in the middle of the night, feeling strangely cold. I got up, intending on going downstairs to my overnight bag and getting my longer sleep pants, then I realized I could get up. Someone was missing from the room. I looked to one side and saw a mess of blonde hair, then to the other and saw nothing. I thought maybe Bella was in the bathroom, so I went on downstairs to get my bag. On the third step from the bottom, though, I saw something insane and unbelievable. A silhouette of a couple in a snug embrace, whispering to one another softly. However, the hair I saw on the male end of the deal was not Jasper's curly blonde locks.

Edward and Bella sat on the couch, unknowing of my presence, absorbed in one another. It was enough to make my jaw drop and my body go into shock. It was unbelievable, impossible, and improbable.

"What the hell?" I managed to sputter, still frozen on the stairs.

The two broke apart in half a millisecond, apparently surprised.

"Alice!" Bella sputtered, in the exact same moment Edward choked, "We can explain!"

I managed to go down the steps the rest of the way, but I couldn't bring myself to cross the room to the two. "You two… I knew I heard something that morning I fell. You two have been… You've been cheating on Jazz and Rose!"

"Alice, please," Bella begged, tears forming in her eyes. "Please hear me out!"

"Al, you have to know the real story, because it's just…" Edward couldn't finish his statement.

"It's just what?" I asked, crossing my arms. "What separates you away from the rest of the world that makes cheating okay? How long has this been going on?"

Edward stood up, running his fingers through his hair. "A few weeks ago, we started talking about this issue and... Look, we know it's not fair but… It's just…"

"It started off as him comforting me, that's all. Jasper's just so nitpicky about my feelings, but I just wanted to try something, and now everything's just out of hand," Bella said, wiping her tears away. "I love Jasper, but I wanted to try…something different."

"And you know Rosie and I are in deep, but…I couldn't help agree with Bella about… Just about something bothering us both."

I was still furious. "It's still not right! What were you two thinking? No, I don't want to hear it. I'm going to bed and I'm going to pretend I never saw anything. If I do see anything again, I'll tell Rose and Jasper as fast as I can and I'm sure Emmett will agree with me."

"You're not telling Emmett!" Edward begged. "Do you know how badly he would kill me?"

"Please, Al," Bella said softly. "I swear, I know it's wrong. Please, it won't happen again. I'm so stupid. Please, don't tell anyone."

I looked from one of them to the other, then turned and went to get some water from the kitchen. They were gone when I got back, so I stalked up the stairs to check that they were in the respective rooms. Of course, with my luck, who was to walk out of the bathroom at that exact second but the object of my affections that I was forced to keep a secret from.

"Hey, honey," Emmett said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his damp hands. "What're you up for?"

"I was cold," I said mindlessly. "I was looking for my long pants."

He wrapped me in a hug. "Do you need me to get you a blanket from the closet?"

"No, it's okay, sweety," I said, resting my head on his chest. "This feels better than a blanket."

"Hey, you wanna grab a blanket and sneak downstairs? I was kinda hoping to get to hold you tonight anyway," he suggested, lifting my chin up.

"Hmm, I'd like that," I said, leaning up on tiptoe to kiss him gently. "I'm getting squished in there."

He grinned sleepily and then glanced into his open door. Jasper was sleeping much like Rosalie, on his stomach with his face buried in the pillow and his hair a mess. He and Edward were on the floor, several feet from one another. "I could've sworn someone was missing when I got up."

I shrugged, feeling furious inside at myself and the perpetrators. "Maybe you were still mostly asleep."

He got a heavy blanket from the top of the linen closet, then we went down to the living room. We laid on the couch and cuddled together, just talking for a few minutes, kissing a time or two, and finally giving over to unconsciousness.

We were awoken by Rose, who thought maybe we needed to get up before Charlie woke up and found us in different sleeping arrangements than the night before. We thanked her (despite her method of waking us up by poking us over and over and over again, singing our names) and went to find food.

We went to my house when Charlie had to go to work, and we hung out all together in the living room. Edward and Rosalie sat intertwined in the recliner, whispering and kissing in their own little bubble. Rosalie looked up at one point and looked at me.

"When did you get up anyway? I woke up at one point and no one was there, then Bella came in a second later and I fell back asleep," she said, looking confused.

I looked from Edward to Bella. "Um, I don't know. I just woke up and ran into Em."

"Really? It was so weird," she continued. "I heard more than one person up. I heard Bella walking around and someone in the bathroom and I could have sworn I heard someone else."

"Did Alice fall again?" Edward joked, obviously trying to sway the conversation from the topic. "Maybe you heard the echoing."

Rosalie giggled. "No, I don't know. I thought she was in the bathroom."

"I was in the bathroom," Emmett said, looking amused. "Alice was looking for her pants or something."

Everyone started laughing at that, the way it sounded. Edward added fuel to the fire (the fire being my temper, which was drawing thin) by saying, "And why exactly was Alice missing her pants Emmett, if you were in the bathroom when she lost them? Does Al have a secret lover?"

Let him say one more thing…

"You might need to watch out, Em," he finished, smirking jokingly. He really wanted me to hurt him.

"But who would she be with?" Jasper asked, joining the 'fun'.

"Who knows," Bella said, laughing a bit. "She could be hiding someone in the basement." And of course she started.

My fury at she and my twin was building, along with my sensitivity at catching the two cheating (which I was still contemplating telling Emmett about), and it would only take a little more before I snapped.

"You know that might be why she fell," Edward suggested, looking thrilled with himself. "She was running away from the basement door so no one would be suspicious. I never pegged you as a cheater, Al."

I stood up and stared my brother down. "You know what, Ed?"

He looked up at me, startled. "I was just jo-"

"I hate you!" I screeched, turning and running from the room. Emmett followed close behind, all the way to my room, where I slammed the door shut (after he had slipped in) and fell into his arms, sobbing angry tears.

"Sweetheart," Emmett whispered, rubbing my back. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head in his chest, squeezing him tightly. I tried to calm my furious tears, and they faded after a few minutes. "Nothing," I said thickly, finally able to talk.

"You know they were joking, right?" he asked, pulling me to sit on my bed. "I didn't take any of that seriously."

I nodded, rubbing my eyes dry. "It's not any of that. It's just… Ugh, I can't tell you."

"What? You can tell me anything," he said, looking like I hurt his feelings.

"Well," I said slowly. "What if I knew one of our friends were being…unfaithful to another friend? And said friend asked me not to tell you or said other friend."

He looked confused, then he finally said, "I… I think I know. But not who. I've been suspicious of a few for a few weeks, but I can't decide if it's cheating or acting funny."

I bit my lip, trying to not make a sound. "I…I don't want to know who you suspect… I can't take it. But everyone was just ganging up on me."

"I know, sweetheart," he said, hugging me close. "That was unfair of them."

I let him comfort me for a while, just sitting on my bed in his warm embrace. Emmett and I were so simple, in a good way. Words weren't important then. We could communicate words with actions. If Emmett ran his hand down my back, he meant something like, 'it'll be okay'. If I tilted my head up for a kiss, I meant that I was glad he was there with me. It was so comfortable, and it was a perfect moment for me to finally say those words.

"Em…" I said softly, looking up at him through my eyelashes. "Emmett-"

"Alice!" someone called softly through my door, knocking softly, and totally killing the moment. "Alice, it's Rose. Bella's here, too. Please come out. We're really sorry. We didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Emmett cocked his head toward the door. "Go on. We can hang out more later." He kissed my cheek and got up, opening my door and going to wherever the guys were, letting Rose and Bella in.

They came in and sat on either side of me, grabbing me into an unwanted group hug.

"We're sorry," Rose said, squeezing me.

"Yeah," Bella agreed shyly, looking fearful.

I shot her a glare that Rose couldn't see, then shoved them both away.

"Don't you forgive us, Al?" Rose begged. "I shouldn't have gotten Edward started."

I sighed, chancing a look into her big blue eyes. "I'm not mad, Rosie. Not at you anyway. My dumbass brother's not my favorite person in the world."

"Oh, thank you, Alice!" she cried, grabbing my head and planting a kiss in my hair, knocking some of the spikes lopsided.

"Ew, Rosie!" I whined, jumping up to check my hair in the mirror. I fluffed the hairs back up, fretting over the simple malfunction. Hey, it took patience to get them just right. "I just was oversensitive. Don't worry about me."

They listened to me and didn't press much, just letting me be. After approximately two minutes of awkward silence, Rose jumped up. "I forgot! I brought my curling iron I got for Christmas. I wanted to try something on you, Alice. Can't I? Can I please?"

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes. "You burn my hair, you buy me a wig."

She was thrilled, and half an hour later, I had little springy curls all over my head, like a porcelain doll. It looked silly, and when Bella commented, we attacked her as well. She resisted, though, and she and Rose turned against me to drag me downstairs the second I glanced at my flat iron.

Emmett's expression when we came in was one of utter amazement. "Al… Whatcha been up to?"

I glared from Rose to Bella. "Being attacked. I try to dress someone up and I get yelled and screamed at. Someone decides to attack me with a curling iron and I can't say a word."

He stood up and smiled loyally. "It's cute."

I rolled my eyes. "I look like a lunatic."

"My lunatic," he said, coming up to me and wrapping me into a hug. "But I think I like the porcupine look better."

I giggled, leaning up for a kiss, earning a series of jibes from the rest of the group.

A/N: Okay, please review, but before I end the post, I want to adress something that someone pointed out - Why not just have an open relationship in high school?

I personally think open relationships are ridiculous. If you're going to be with someone that you have deep feelings for, and they have those feelings back, there should be no reason to want anyone else, and if you do, you should just decide what you want more - that person you love, or the freedom to explore other relationships. If you're not going to commit and be serious, don't even call it a relationship. Casual dating and having an open relationship shouldn't even be considered the same thing, because one is innocent and one is being with others after you've commited yourself to one person. Those are my personal views on it. You may have your own opinion, but this is my story and my reasoning for the drama that shall ensue.

~Sidney