Chapter Ten: Shopping
Monday morning I woke up to something strange leaking in through my bedroom window…sunlight. It warmed my face as I reached out my hand to turn off my phone alarm. I was so surprised that I jumped out of bed and looked out the window at the sky just to make sure I wasn't being tricked. But it was true. There, hanging in front of the clouds, was the sun.
"Halleluiah!" I cried happily.
Excited about the sun, I decided to dress for the occasion. I still wore my usual skinny jeans, but this time paired them with a cute short sleeve shirt. After playing with my hair a bit, I sectioned the top half off and added a bow to finish it off. Lastly, I applied my usual makeup before pushing my feet into my converse and heading down stairs. Eating a quick breakfast, I stayed downstairs until Bella came down. Something seemed to be bothering her because she didn't eat anything. When I asked her what was wrong, she just shrugged her shoulders before grabbing her coat and walking out the door. I followed quickly behind her.
When it came time for lunch Bella, Jessica, and I took our food outside like all the other students. But instead of eating, Jessica and I both just sat on top of the picnic table and soaked up the sun, occasionally picking at our food. Bella sat next to us on the bench, her eyes scanning the crowd of kids. I caught her doing this and couldn't help but roll my eyes. Couldn't she just go one day without worrying about stupid Cullen?
Jessica noticed Bella's wandering eyes as well. "He's not here."
"Well, where is he then?" I decided to ask. Although I didn't really enjoy Bella obsessing over Cullen, I would still help her out. She was my sister after all.
I caught Jessica looking at me from the corner of her eyes. "Whenever the weather's nice, the Cullen's disappear."
"What, do they just…ditch?" Bella asked.
"No, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen yank 'em out for hiking and camping and stuff," Jessica told us. "I tried that out on my parents. Now even close."
A smirk crossed my face. I wondered if Charlie would buy that. Probably not. What kind of Chief of Police would he be if he took his daughters out of school just to enjoy the nice weather?
Suddenly, Angela came running up to us, a large smile on her face. "I'm going to prom with Eric!"
"No way, Angela!" I beamed at her, pulling her into a hug.
"I just asked him, I took control!" She told us after I let go. She then sat down next to Bella and gave her a hug as well. "Are you sure you guys have to go out of town?"
I nodded my head sadly. "Unfortunately, we do. I wish I could see you both in your dresses."
Being a sophomore, I really didn't have to worry about prom. I was too young to go by myself and it was very unlikely that an upperclassman was going to ask me. That didn't really bother me anyway. Leslie and I, yes I told her about the lie, we were best friends after all, had made plans to hang out at my house that night. I was going to make her watch one of my favorite movies.
"Speaking of dresses," Jessica said, bumping shoulders with me, "We should go shopping in Port Angeles before all the good dresses get cleaned out."
"Port Angeles?" Bella asked. "Can I come with you guys?"
Angela scoffed good-naturedly. "Yeah, I need your opinion."
"Well, then I'm definitely coming. It might be the only chance I get to see your guy's dresses," I said happily. Plus, Bella voluntarily going dress shopping? I had to see that.
The bell signaling the end of lunch rang and as we picked up our trays, we made plans to head up to Port Angeles tonight after school. Bella and I would run home quick to drop off our school stuff and Jessica would pick us up from there. Personally, I wasn't that big into shopping. I lacked the patients to try everything on and move from one store to the next. But that didn't stop me from looking forward to the end of school. I was excited to spend some more time with Angela and Jess. I mean, Jessica could be annoying and rude sometimes, but she could be really fun to be around as well. Plus, Mike wouldn't be there so she wouldn't have to fight with Bella for his attention.
When the final bell rang, I practically pulled Bella out of the school and out into the parking lot. Getting in the truck, we drove home and set our things in our rooms. I checked my reflection quickly in my mirror, making sure my hair still looked fine and my makeup wasn't all smudged. I was just fixing my bow when there was a honk from outside. Bella and I met outside our rooms and left the house together.
"I left a note for Charlie," Bella told me as we got into the backseat of Jessica's car.
"Good thinking, he would probably send out a search party or something."
The drive to Port Angeles was quick as Jessica drove a lot faster than Charlie probably would have liked or our old truck was capable of going. Jessica, Angela, and I talked about different dress styles and which colors would look the best on them to pass the time. Occasionally Bella would chime in, but mostly she just sat there looking out the window. When we finally got to the dress shop, we all made a beeline to the junior's section.
"Ohhh, I like this one," Jessica said right away, pulling a pretty pink dress from the rack.
"That's cool." Angela agreed, nodding her head.
Jessica smiled at the dress before holding it up against her chest. "I don't know about the one shoulder thing, though."
I looked at the dress. "Yeah, I don't think that's the style for you. But I love the color."
Jessica nodded her head slowly; a thoughtful look on her face. She then placed the dress back where she got it from and started looking at other pink dresses.
"I like this one," Angela said, turning to show us a pretty satin blue dress.
"That's really pretty," I told her, sitting down at the window seat with Bella while the two went off to the changing rooms.
For the next ten minutes, they would come back and forth to show us their dresses before finding a new one to try on. Bella would briefly look up from a piece of paper in her lap to look at the dresses, repeat the same comment she said about all the other dresses, and then look back down at whatever it was she was she had. I, on the other hand, tried to give more helpful comments. Like telling Jess that green was definitely not her color but that the style of dress looked amazing on her.
"Okay, Alex, you were totally right," Jessica said, a large grin on her face as she stepped out of the dressing room. "I totally rock this style, it makes my boobs look good."
I smiled at her. "I told you. Plus it's pink which is totally your color."
"What do you guys think? Is this it? Is this my color?" Angela asked as she too stepped out of the dressing room in a purple dress.
"Oh, Angela. You look beautiful." I told her. And she did. I thought the weaving at the top of the dress look interesting, the color looked nice on her, and it fit her like a glove.
Jessica looked her friend over quickly before nodding her head. "I like it. But I also liked that dusty rose one too."
As the two friends posed in front of the mirror, four older guys walked past the window. They started whistling and knocking on the window. One even called out, "nice" before they all walked away laughing.
"That is uncomfortable," Jessica said, her back turned to the window while Angela crossed her arms protectively over her chest.
"Oh, that's disgusting," Bella commented.
The three of us turned to look at her. That was the first time she had said anything that wasn't just "it looks good".
"So, Bella, what do you think?" Jessica asked, turning to face my sister.
"Looks good."
I groaned and leaned back in my seat.
"You said that about the last five dresses, though." Jessica pointed out. I could hear that she was annoyed but was still trying to be friendly.
Bella shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I thought they're all pretty good." She told them sheepishly.
Angela looked at her sympathetically, "You're not really into this, are you?"
Bella just shook her head before standing up. "I kinda wanna check out this one book store. Meet you guys at the restaurant?"
"Do you want me to go with you?" I asked, making a move to stand up too.
"No, that's okay," Bella told me before grabbing her purse and walking out of the dress shop. She waved awkwardly as she walked past the window.
A sigh escaped my mouth as I turned back to Jessica and Angela. "I'm really sorry about her."
Angela gave me a small smile. "It's okay, this isn't her thing."
I shook my head. "Shopping's not really my thing either, but I'm at least participating," I told her. "Honestly, it's about spending time with friends."
I loved my sister very much, but she could be really annoying sometimes. It wouldn't have killed her to at least seem interested in the dresses Angela and Jessica were trying on.
"You know, you're sister was right about one thing," Jessica said, looking at herself in the mirror once more. "This dress does look awesome."
I laughed at that.
"I'm going to need to find another dress," Angela said suddenly, turning to look from Jessica to me. "This one is waaay out of my price range."
I laughed again before going off to help her find a cheaper dress that still looked amazing. We ended up finding a really pretty white dress for her while Jess went with the hot pink one that made her boobs look good. Paying for the dresses, we made the short drive to the restaurant and made our way inside.
"Hello, ladies," The hostess greeted us, a large smile on her face. "Just the three of you tonight?"
"Um, there's actually going to be four," I told her.
She nodded her head. "Alright, I'll show you to your table and you can wait for your friend there."
We were led over to a table set up in the middle of the restaurant. The three of us sat down together, me sitting by myself so that Bella could sit next to me what she showed up, and started talking to pass the time. When the waiter came over, we all ordered something to drink to help tide us over. I got Bella water and figured if she wanted something else she could ask for it when she got here.
"Guys, I'm going to go and call Bella. See where she is," I said ten minutes later. The server had come by twice already to see if we were ready to order.
They both nodded their heads while I got up to go and make the call. Once outside, I keyed in her number only for it to ring and ring until I got her voicemail. I hung up right away before calling again. When I got her voicemail a second time, I decided to leave a message.
"Hey Bella, it's Alex. Just wondering where you are. Angela, Jessica, and I are waiting for you at the restaurant. Call me when you get this."
Ending the call, I walked back into the restaurant and took a seat.
"So where is she?" Jessica asked.
"I don't know. I got her voicemail. I'll try again in five minutes."
And I did. This time I decided just to call her from the table. When I got her voicemail again I left her another message similar to the first one. When the next five minutes came around, Angela and Jessica helped me call her. When neither of them got an answer I started to get really worried.
"Maybe we should go out and look for her," I suggested.
Angela reached across the table and took one of my hands in hers. "I'm sure she's fine." She told me, her voice calm.
"Yeah, besides. If we went out to look for her, she'd probably just show up at the restaurant and then it would be a big mess." Jessica pointed out.
Angela nodded her head. "She knows we were going to meet her here. We should give her more time."
I bit my lip. I didn't want to sit here and wait, I wanted to go out and look for my sister. My stupid clumsy sister who was probably wandering around lost. But I knew they both had some truth to their words so I just nodded my head. I called my sister one last time before Jessica talked us all into ordering our food. Well, Angela and Jessica ordered food. I was too busy worrying about Bella to eat.
A half hour later, with the food eaten, paid for, and still no sign of Bella, we decided to go out and look for her. Putting on our coats, we walked out of the front doors just as Bella was making her way up the walkway. At the sight of her, the tightness around my heart lessened and I ran down the steps before throwing my arms around her. With all my momentum, I almost pushed her off her feet.
"Where the HELL have you been!"
"I'm sorry, I—" Bella tried to explain herself only for me to interrupt her.
"Do you understand how many messages we've left you? I've been worried sick." I told her as I let her go. By then, Jessica and Angela made their way down the steps and were standing next to me.
"Um, we waited for you, but we were starving, so we—" Jessica started only to be interrupted by Edward getting out of his car and coming to stand next to Bella.
"Sorry I kept Bella from dinner. We ran into each other and got talking."
I glared at him while Jessica and Angela smiled widely, easily falling for his charm.
"No—we totally understand. I mean, that happens, right?" Jessica managed to fumble out. "Um, we were…we were just leaving so…"
Her, Angela, and I walked past Bella and Edward and started walking towards Jessica's car.
"Um, Bella, you wanna-" Angela asked, gesturing towards the car while her eyes looked at Edward. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
"I think I should make sure Bella gets something to eat," Edward told them before looking at Bella. "If you'd like. I'll drive you home myself." He moved so that he was now standing in front of the four of us.
Bella nodded and took a step towards him.
"That's so…thoughtful," Angela said, raising her eyebrows at Bella before turning back to Edward. "Maybe Alex should stay too? She didn't eat anything earlier, she was too worried about Bella."
I turned my glare from Edward to her and opened my mouth to disagree when Bella started speaking.
"Yeah, Alex, you should eat something." She gave me a look that told me she really didn't want me to leave her.
Taking a deep breath and blowing it out my nose, I started to nod my head. "Okay fine." There was no way in hell I was going to leave my sister alone again with a possible vampire.
Authors Note:: Well there you go, another chapter about Alex worrying about Bella. She's not a very good older sister is she? Anyway, thank you very much to the people that reviewed the previous chapter: Dream Lighting, VividEmber, lostfeather1,kodt24, and Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967! Alex is going to find out about their secret but it's going to be kind interesting how she processes everything and deals with it... at least I think it's going to be interesting. As for Alex and Rosalie, I have a few ideas for that, but they're still in development a bit so we'll have to see. Thanks for everyone who has favorited, followed, or just read this story. It means a lot! :)