To my dear readers,
I am very sad to announce that due to my sleeping habits (or lack of) ' (aka staying up all night writing FF) my mother dearest (pfft) has banned me from using my computer after 12:00 am (when I do most of my FF writing) -she takes it from me! My laptop! My baby! - AND she is making me do this new thing called "chores", it's all really silly actually. Because of this, my updates might be slowed. I am still not sure how long it will be 'till I convince my mother to halt this foolishness.
Big thanks to...
aussiebabe, WritingxIsxMyxLife, Abigail Tracey, whoa.oh.twilight, mbmimi, Nessa19, Nightmare and Dream, Mellmo, Irishwhirlpool
For amazing reviews!!
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Journal 9- Denial
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Ok, I will admit that last night I had a lot of fun talking with Edward, but that did not change the fact that I wanted to go home, now.
After my last experience with canoeing, I decided to not tag along with everyone else on today's canoe trip. I was not the only one to stay behind though, Rosalie decided she had one too many canoe trips as well and said that was enough for her.
I waved goodbye to everyone before joining Rosalie back in the tent.
The number one thing I hated about this tent (other than the fact I had to sleep in it) was that in order to open it, you had to bend all the way down to the bottom in order to reach the small zipper puller thing. Even after that you only had a slit in the side of the tent, so you needed to reach down again in order to open it along the bottom, making a bigger opening and therefore a lot easier to fit through. Being the lazy person I am, I usually just try to slide through the slit made with the first zipper and not even bother with the other one. Being the clumsy person I am, I usually trip and fall on my face.
It was the same today. After tripping my way into the tent, I greeted Rosalie with a smile. She was lying on her sleeping bag and had a book open in front of her.
"I thought you didn't like reading Rosalie?" I asked as I sat on my own sleeping bag.
"I don't really, but there isn't much else to do. Also, you can call me 'Rose' you know."
"Uh... Ok"
"Well this is not my book you know, its Alice's. I looked at your book as well but I cannot understand those weird poems and stuff that your book is full of." She said, smiling and look at me.
"Oh, I love reading poems." I answered.
"So you are a book nerd as well, no wonder you and Edward get along so well." She teased.
I turned bright red.
"As long as it doesn't interfere with your work I don't think there will be a problem" Rosal...Rose said.
"W...wha...what are you talking about?!" I stuttered and turned so red that I was surprised that blood wasn't coming out my ears and nose.
"It's quite obvious you know, Alice realized it as well. That's why we planned it so Edward was with you for most of yesterday." She said smiling.
"I still don't get what you are talking about?! Realized what? There is nothing to realize!" I nearly shouted and my face must have looked like I fell in red paint.
Rose looked at me sceptically. "You like him."
"I do not!" I cried. Just because he is the most beautiful, charming, polite and perfect guy I have ever met that doesn't mean I like him!
"The only one who doesn't know is Edward himself, he is very oblivious to this sort of stuff." Rosalie said, ignoring what I said.
I realized that it was pointless to argue with her, her and Alice are very much alike in that way. There was no way that I would like him in more than a friendly manner. I respected him very much as both my boss and friend, and I enjoyed his company, but that doesn't mean I like him in a romantic way...does it?
I was bright red as I pondered this. I came up with only one solution, the reason I was so flustered about this, was because of how he looked and the fact he was so nice to me. These were both things I was unaccustomed to, so I reacted funny. I most defiantly did not like him as anything other than a friend.
"But aside from that..." Rose closed the book she was reading and turned herself to face me, "we have to come up with a plan."
"A plan for what?" I asked confused.
"To get the hell out of here of course!" She exclaimed in a whisper, as if they could hear us from across the lake.
I smiled, and laid down in the same position Rose was in, my chin propped up with my hands.
"What can we do?" I asked.
"Well... maybe I can call someone from back home to... fake an emergency that would require up to return immediately!"
"But then they would know that it was set up once we get back." I stated.
"All well, at least we would be out of the accursed forest." She said bitterly.
"But then we would feel guilty afterwards."
"hnn" was Rose's response.
"At the rate I am going now, I will probably have a broken leg or something by the end of the day. In that case we would at least have to stay in a hotel or something. Maybe we will get lucky."
"Let's try doing this without someone getting hurt." Rose laughed.
We continued to think of things that would get us home sooner, but we turned up blank. Eventually, we both fell asleep.
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I woke up to the sound of Emmett calling Rose, and, beside me, Rose cursing him to oblivion for waking her up.
"We are back!" Emmett shouted.
"Yea you idiot, we realize that!" snapped Rose.
"what's the matter?! It almost sounds like you didn't want to hear my voice!" Whined Emmett playfully.
"Well you heard correctly, I was about to have the best sleep I had since we got here before you woke me up!" Rose shouted angrily.
It was, according to my watch, about one in the afternoon. I got out of the tent (once again tripping, but I managed to stay on my feet) and walked over to the picnic table where Alice was taking out the chips and cookies.
"Did you think you were going to get those all for yourself?" I laughed. I was in a much better mood now that I had a decent nap.
"Drat" Alice joked and handed me the tin of cookies, while she opened the bag of chips.
"Wow! Who made these cookies, they are delicious!" I exclaimed as I went for another one.
"Edward did, he is a surprisingly good cook." Alice said as she reached across and took a cookie from the tin.
I simply 'ahhed' in response. Is it just me, or is Edward good at everything? I suddenly remember the talk I had with Rose in the tent. I blushed a bit and made a mental note that I would have to straighten things up with Alice when I got the chance. (Even though I doubt that she would listen to me anymore then her best friend did.) I didn't want to bring up the subject without a reason, because I didn't want her to think I was thinking about it too much...
I looked over at Edward. He, Emmett and Jasper were playing some sort of card game. He must have won because Emmett and Jasper cursed a bit and Edward was laughing his beautiful laugh (I am seriously going to have to stop thinking things like that).
I quickly looked away, not wanting Alice to think I was staring or anything ridiculous like that.
"Listen up everyone! We are going to play a game!" Emmett shouted. Alice and I put down our snacks and joined everyone around the campfire area.
"Oh really? What are we playing?" Alice asked.
"Geo-Cashing!" He announced excitedly.
"And what exactly, my dear, is geo-cashing?" asked Rose, sounding still slightly annoyed with him.
"Well it's like treasure hunting; only using a GPS. Geo-Cashing is when someone hides a box or something at a certain location and goes online to a website and gives out coordinates for it and then people go find it." Jasper explained.
"Inside the box or container, is either a paper that you sign to show you found it, or a little item that you take and replace with something of your own." Edward finished.
"For our game though, we looked up the coordinates for three different Geo-Caches' in the area, all at about the same distance from one another and are in completely different directions. We will split up into groups of two, Rose and I, Alice and Jasper, Bella and Edward, and see which group finds the Cache the fastest and returns to the campsite!"
"Does this mean hiking" I said, turning green.
"You bet it does!" Emmett sounded very excited.
I groaned.
"About how far away is the things?" asked Rose, not looking very enthusiastic.
"Each are about a two miles or so from here."
"I am not going" Rose said bluntly.
"The reward for the winning couple is a five hundred dollar gift certificate that works for the entire mall back home." Emmett said.
"One or each of them? Or one for the two to share?" asked Alice
"They will each get one."
All of a sudden Rose and Alice were all game.
"I have no need for five hundred in shopping money" I said, " I am not going to die in order to get some card that will insure Alice will take me on some shopping hell trip right after this one."
"There is a big book store in the mall Bella, it works there as well." Edward said.
Oh that was tempting.
"Still not worth dying for"
"How about a promise? I will not force you to any clubs, parties, or shopping trips, for a month if you agree to participate, and if you win, I will make it two months. Oh, and if you give up half way through this deal is invalid. " Alice said, knowing I could not refuse an offer like that.
Each pair received a GPS, a walkie-talkie, two water bottles, and a flash light. We also got a small figurine - a McDonalds give a way probably- and a pen.
"Why would we need a flash light in broad day light?" I asked Edward.
"Well, the cache might be in a darker place, like in a cave or something. It's also good to have in case for some reason we are out when it gets dark."
I didn't like the sound of that.
There were three pieces of paper in a bowl with the coordinates of the three caches; Edward went up to pick ours from the bowl. We were lucky; we didn't get one of the ones that required that we canoe to. (That would mean carrying the canoe when we got to land)
The ones who got the Canoe trip was Rose and Emmett, much to Rose's furry. I felt really bad for her, but then I realized that she would, of course, be doing no work at all, she would make Emmett carry and paddle the canoe.
We all agreed that even if we didn't find the cache, we would make sure to be at the campsite before it gets dark; none of us thought it was a good idea to be hiking when it was dark out.
"Ok everyone!" yelled Emmett. To prove that we did find the cache, you must take a picture of it with your camera phones, so make sure at least one partner has it with them."
"Ok ok..." we agreed together, and we all separated into our groups and head off. Edward and I headed south-east.
"I really don't understand why we have to do this. We should be at home right now" I pouted. "Whose stupid idea was it to go camping for the trip anyways?" Edward was walking a little bit ahead of me, because I am a slow walker and he is not.
Edward smiled, "Mine"
"Why the heck would you do that?!"
"Because I like camping, and so do most people actually. And it's more affordable for everyone in opposed to a trip to Florida" explained Edward, who slowed down a bit so he was walking by my side.
"How can anyone enjoy being so...uncomfortable!?"
"Well, it's true that it's a bit uncomfortable, but it's nice to be in a different situation then you are used to and... rough it out for a while"
"No it most certainly is not" I mumbled.
Edward laughed at me. "You are really amusing you know."
"Nice to know I am entertaining you. At least someone is having fun now. I can't believe we are going to have to walk for two miles." I whined.
"If you want, I can carry you."
I blushed deep red at the offer. "N...no thank you" I stuttered and looked down at the ground in embarrassment. How can anyone not be embarrassed when you are a full adult being offered a piggy back ride because you don't feel like walking?
"Ok then."
I was quiet for a few more minutes before I noticed that we were heading off the trail.
"Woah, wait! Where are we going?!"
"... in the direction that we need to go... towards the cache..." Edward looked at me like I was losing it.
"Oh I know WHERE we are going; well I don't, but still. I meant why are we going off trail?"
"Because that is the way we are supposed to go, and there is a trail here, see? Its small but you can see where other people have walked here before." He pointed at the ground beneath us.
"That's barely a trail, it's nearly over grown and there are sticks and plants everywhere that are just screaming 'trip on me!'" I complained.
Edward sighed. "You know that offer I made earlier I still in effect, now you can either stop complaining or I will pick you up and carry you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes."
"I'm walking I'm walking."
"Walk directly behind me so that way I can clear the way easier, and I can catch you if you fall."
I blushed red and made a point out of walking a good meter or two behind him. The plan backfired when I tripped over everything and had to push sticks out of my way myself.
"You know if you just stop being stubborn and walk close to me like I told you to, this would be a whole lot easier for you." Edward said smirking.
"What are you talking about? I am perfectly fine..." I was going to tell him off a bit more but I tripped over a thick tree root and ended up face first in a burr bush.
Edward had to help me get out of that one, much to my embarrassment. I also had three big burrs stuck in my hair (near the ends thank god) that did not seem like they wanted to come out.
This time, Edward made me walk behind him under the excuse that he didn't want to waste anymore time. I tripped more the usual because I was concentrating on trying to untangle the burrs from my hair, but Edward caught me every time.
I think I might be going insane from all this, because I actually felt a little bit happy with my situation. That made no sense at all, because my feet hurt, and I was covered in scrapes and bruises. Maybe it was the person I was with that made me happy... No, I must be going insane.
I held onto the walkie-talkie while Edward had the GPS (him being the one who knew how to use it). I heard Emmett and Jasper making bets on who is going to win. Every now and then Alice or Rose would steal the walkie-talkie from their partners to check up on us. They found the fact that I fell in a bush very amusing until they found out that I got burrs stuck in my hair.
"Oh my god! That is terrible!"-Beep- Rose exclaimed.
"How bad is it caught?"-Beep- Alice asked, worried.
"Well thanks a lot guys, I tell you that I nearly cracked my skull like seven times since we left and you guys laugh, but when you find out I messed up my hair, now THAT is a tragedy for sure." –Beep-
"Is it caught near your scalp?"-Beep- Rose asked, ignoring my previous comment.
"No, it's near the ends of my hair." –Beep-
"Well that's good, so if worse comes to worse we won't have to cut your hair super short."-Beep-
"Hnnn" –Beep-
The conversation stopped after that, and Emmett and Jasper tried to get Edward to place a bet as well, but he refused. (I couldn't help but think he knew that there was no chance of winning with me... ouch...)
"Hey Bella, Look over there!" Edward pointed in the direction he was looking at.
Not anymore than thirty yards away from us, what a big deer. It was a male, judging by its antlers. It was eating something off the ground. It took it a few seconds to notice our presence, it looked up at us, startled a bit, looked at as if it was waiting to see if we were planning on attacking it, then went back to its grass.
"Why didn't it run away?" I whispered to Edward.
"Probably because it's used to humans. This is a campsite, so it is not as easily spooked by us as most deer are."
It was fascinating watching the deer going about its business. A few times it looked up at us –usually after we moved or something- to make sure we were not planning on attacking it.
It was another ten minutes or so before the deer wandered off, so Edward and I were rather behind everyone else in the competition we gave up on long ago.
"Should we just head back?" I asked "there is absolutely no way that we will win this."
"Come on, we will never be able to show our faces to the others if we give up!" Edward said, trying to get me motivated or something.
"... I will never be able to show my face to anyone because I will die of exhaustion before we get out of this stupid forest." I grumbled.
"Well, if we give up now, then that deal you made with Alice will no longer be valid, and if she wins, you will be stuck going on a massive shopping spree with her right when we get home."
Grr...
We continued our journey for another two hours or so before we heard a whooping yell through the walkie-talkie. Emmett and Rose apparently found their cache and were on their way back to the camp site.
It was another ten minutes or so before Alice and Jasper announced that they found their cache.
"Are we getting close to ours?" My breath came out in short gasps.
"Yes, it should be another fifteen minutes or so before we get there."He did not seem to be tired at all from the two mile hike.
We continued to follow the directions that the GPS gave us. It eventually led us into a beautiful clearing. It was not very big, about the size of our campsite. Compared the filtered green sunlight in the forest, the sun here made everything look like it was practically glowing. The grass, still a bit damp from rain, was bright green and the trees around us cast remarkable shadows that seemed to dance in the wind. There was a small creek with a weird rock formation along one of its sides.
"Whoa..." I said in awe.
'It's really beautiful isn't it?" I heard Edward say beside me.
I looked over at something even more beautiful, a picnic table.
"Sweat haven!!" I exclaimed and ran, with energy I did not know I still had, and sat down on the picnic bench with a happy sigh. "I am never getting up ever again." I breathed.
"Oh, so you are planning on just staying there for the rest of your life?" Edward teased.
I ignored him, "So where in this place is the cache anyways?"
"I don't know, we have to go look around." Edward said.
"hmph"
"Fine, I will look around, you sit there and rest; we have another two hour walk ahead of us. If we want to get back before dark however, you better be prepared to walk fast."
I watched him as he searched around the creek and around some of the nearby trees. After about ten minutes he looked around at me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Bella, I know you don't want to get up to look around, but you could at least look right underneath you."
"huu?" I looked under the picnic table, there was nothing there.
"It's under the bench you are sitting on, tied to the top."
I stood up, my legs nearly gave up from underneath me, they were so sore. I groaned in pain and sat back down, only beside the two strings instead of on top of them. Edward untied the strings and took down the plastic container.
The box wasn't exactly what I expected. I expected some old wooden box or something like that –I guess I watched too many treasure hunt movies- instead; this was a simple plastic Tupperware container, with an 'extra strength seal' lid.
Edward popped the lid off. Inside, was a small note book.
"I assume this is the log" Edward said.
"Yea, I have the pen right here" I said, pulling it out of my pocket.
We signed our names in the log,
Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, June 17th 2008
I almost laughed at the difference between our handwriting. Mine was scratchy and hard to read, while Edward's was a beautiful script.
We put the log back inside the container, and tied it back on the top of the bench. Edward informed the others that we found our cache and were on our way back right now.
There was no way I would be able to walk another two miles.
My legs have completely cramped up, to the point where it hurt to shift them into a different position, never mind walking through the fricken forest.
"Is something wrong Bella?" Edward asked when he saw I didn't leave the bench yet.
"I... can't walk... my legs are all cramped up" I explained extremely embarrassed.
"Here, I will carry you then"
This time I could not argue with him, because there was simply no way I could walk on my own. When I was securely on his back, he started walking again. It was exceptionally embarrassing for me to be this close to him. I could hear his breaths, still even, as he walked down the rocky path. His bronze hair tickled the side of my face as the wind tousled it.
I could not help but be extremely... happy with this. As much as I hated causing him such trouble, I enjoyed being alone with him, I enjoyed this proximity. It was totally out of character for me to be feeling like this. I could feel my heart beat fast as I leaned closer to him.
There was no way that Alice and Rose could be right... right? Even if I did, not saying I do, have any... beyond friendship feelings for Edward, I could never act on them and there was no way he would ever like me in that way back. He was my boss, my employer; there is no way a relationship like...that would be able to last.
The rhythmic sound of his breaths and the rocking movement made when he took a step, made me very sleepy.
The last thing I remember before falling asleep was Edwards's voice humming a beautifully sweet melody.
WOW! That was my longest chapter EVER!! Over four thousand words!! WOO HOOO!!
As many of you might have noticed, the clearing in my story is based on the meadow in the actual Twilight books.
I really hope you like the pace I am taking with Edwards and Bellas relationship. I know that many fanfictions I read usually have them falling in love at pretty much first sight and then they are in a relationship by chapter three :p I really hope you like how I am taking it slow, and it will continue to be like this for a while, after all, there are many obstacles that they will have to overcome before they can be 'together'
I hope you guys give me reviews for this chapter, you don't know how happy it makes me to see those emails in my inbox :p
Later on, probably with the next chapter, I will be posting some pictures of the camp site (I modeled it exactly after the one I visited XD).
Now... REVIEW!! :D