A/N: thanks for reading and reviewing! I love all the response.

I wrote this chap on my mobile which is not a recommendation. Sorry if there are any errors.

Enjoy.

Chapter 11

Her phone buzzed and she picked it up. I assumed she received a text.

"My brother," she murmured. "He wants to know where I am. I didn't even text him. I texted my dad. I sometimes wish I didn't have any siblings!"

"I haven't. I think it would get lonely sometimes if you didn't have them anymore."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't, but...can you imagine life without them?"

"I suppose you're right. I just wish they wouldn't constantly check up on me."

"I get it," I said. "It's up to the point where it's suffocating."

"Exactly."

"Maybe someday you can tell them that."

She sighed and shook her head. Probably disagreeing with me.

"Can I ask..." she said softly, "how your parents died?"

"Oh...uhm...my dad was diagnosed with cancer when I was thirteen. His heart stopped two years later. My mom committed suicide."

From the look on Alice's face I could tell she didn't expect that.

As the words were out, I realized something. It wasn't so hard to say it. I always kept my parents death to myself.

Except today. And another day...? Was it true...?

A memory appeared before my eyes.

"My dad, he died on Christmas Eve," I blurted out.

He stopped walking. I took a step forward so I wouldn't see his face as I spoke, quite monotonously.

"He was home. Watching television. My mother and I were in the kitchen. Baking a cake. When I went to the living room to dad, his chin was down on his chest, but his eyes were wide open. They were...void of life. Empty of any emotion. I knew he was dead. I was scared to touch him, but I did it anyway to close his eyes."

I took a deep breath because I ran out of it, and continued quickly. I was halfway there.

"My mother freaked out. She shook him, tried to wake him. I couldn't watch. I ran out, away, into the forest. But it was too cold to stay there for long. For a few days, it was just her and I. A lot of her friends and mine came to visit, but my mother threw them all out. Which is really embarrassing for a fifteen year old."

He appeared in front of me with a blank look on his face that made me shudder.

I wondered what he was thinking, but decided I needed to finish the story. Even if it was ugly.

"My mother never cursed, but when dad died, she knew the entire vocabulary to curse words. Most of the time, when she cursed, it was directed to objects and stuff. Other times..."

I showed him an ugly scar near my right wrist, but I was unable to tell him why it was there. He only watched it briefly. His eyes returned on mine.

"She committed suicide a week after dad died."

I stopped talking abruptly and wiped away the tears. I still had to finish the story, but how could I if it seemed like I was talking to a wall?

"They left you unexpectedly," he said at last, quietly.

My eyes shut when he said that. That was very true. Their departure had been the hardest, because it was unexpected.

His small acknowledgement that he was not in fact a wall gave me the will to give him the grand finale.

"Whenever I hear somebody curse, or make a suicide joke, I feel a shiver inside my body which I can't explain. Perhaps..."

On second thought, I was crazy. Telling him what I thought would end badly. He was a psychiatrist! He judged on facts and was taught by a book.

Not that I was religious, but I had a feeling that Edward was anything but.

He took all my breath away with the touch of his fingers brushing against my wet cheek. His fingers were cold, yet soothing. It was too unexpected.

Crazy or not, I told him my theory.

"I'm not sure if I believe... in heaven and hell. But sometimes I think she's in limbo. Haunting me. I don't know why my mother would do that. If it's even true. But why else would stuff like... cursing... depressing jokes... my full name... and pet names... bother me that much?"

"Are you alright, Bella? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I might as well have seen a ghost. What on earth possessed me to tell Edward Cullen about my parents in that much detail?

I must've truly lost my mind that night.

"I'm alright," I said. "Clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Yes, what will we wear on the 24th? It's a party after all." And the day dad died.

But Alice didn't know that and I thought it was best to keep that to myself.

"We could go shopping," she said.

"Let's," I agreed.

At the stores our options were very limited. I found a yellow dress that was too inappropriate for a birthday party. Perhaps it was more suitable for a girl in a bar, looking for a one night stand. Even so, it cost $269.99 which was ridiculous.

I wondered if any of the clothing here cost a normal amount of money. This store wasn't the one I would normally go to.

I was jamming the dress back between all other clothes with a groan.

"What do think you're doing?" Alice asked, taking the dress from me and watching it with sparkling eyes. "Oh, this is good."

"You think?" I asked skeptically.

Alice was shorter than I. If she wore it, perhaps the fit would be better without risking either her boobs or butt appearing for the sight of inappropriate eyes.

"You would look so hot in this!" she said.

She threw it over her arm.

"Sorry? Me? I thought we were searching for a dress for you."

"That too," she said distractedly.

She was off, never giving me the chance to explain that even if I liked that dress, I could never afford it.

This was her party so I let her search, choose and try on countless of dresses. Each one was more inappropriate as the one she wore before.

She'd taken two of the yellow dresses and made me wear it. In the changing room we stood opposite each other. I had trouble keeping all body parts inside the tiny dress. It was a tight fit, leaving nothing to the imagination.

On Alice it stood very wide. Despite the size zero.

"Just high heels and you're perfect," she said cheerfully.

I looked at myself in the mirror to find her view. I couldn't find it.

"You're kidding, Alice. Right?"

"No."

"If I bend over, the person in front of me will see my boobs and the person behind me will see my butt."

She scrunched up her nose when she replied, "Why would you bend over?"

I explained that I had a dress. It was the one I wore on my forgotten night. I could wear it again.

She agreed quickly and bought the yellow dress for herself. With a credit-card. Which was most likely not hers.

I received a letter, which said that Dr. Edward Cullen was suing me for something about breaching the law of privacy and handing false accusations to the police.

On the 24th I was expected to show up in court.

On Christmas Eve!

This wasn't happening. It couldn't. That was two days from now.

It was hard enough that I agreed to go to a party on the day my dad died. But a court as well as a party?

I knew next to nothing about law. I called the number on top of the letter. I arranged an appointment for tomorrow with a lawyer, which luckily cost me nothing. And we talked.

Afterwards, I felt more confused than before that appointment. I explained to my lawyer all that I knew, but he was very...basic. He was given to me for free after all, and that would probably be the end of me.

All I knew was that I mustn't, under any circumstance, speak or seek contact with Edward Cullen. I was to ignore him if he started a conversation. Not a word could be passed between us unless my lawyer was present.

I thought about telling all of this to Alice. Instead I lied to her when I went to meet my lawyer, telling her that Mike needed me at work for a few hours.

She was ill and I didn't want her to become caught up in my own personal troubles. It was best if she didn't know about the mess that was my life.

Neither did I mention any of this to Jacob. For some reason, I didn't have a good feeling about him.

"Alice?" I said. "What time does the party start tomorrow?"

"12 till well after midnight."

"12?" I asked with a scowl. "Noon?"

"Yeah," she said with a laugh. "But most people arrive later because not everyone has the stamina to stay at a party for that long."

I had to be in court at three.

"I have a small... problem," I began. "I have to be someplace at three... something came up."

"Oh God, you're ditching me! You're bailing-"

"No, Alice, I would never. We can still arrive at noon, but you'll have to forgive me for leaving around two. And I'll come back as soon as I'm finished. Or we could both go in the evening instead."

She nodded and her face seemed very relieved.

"What will you do? Secret Christmas shopping?" she joked.

I shut my eyes for a moment as she reminded me of Christmas presents.

"Alice, I have completely forgotten to buy gifts, for anyone!"

"I'm joking, Bella! The best gift you could ever given me was allowing me in your home. I'm super grateful. Have I ever even thanked you?"

"You're very welcome," I said. "But it's hardly a Christmas present."

"If it makes you feel better, I won't get you anything either."

I smiled and was grateful she didn't push me into telling her where I had to be tomorrow at three.

"We could go at noon," I said. "Maybe it'll be better to go there early before most people have arrived. It'll be a shock for your family to see you after your absence for so long."

"Alright," she agreed with obvious reluctance.

It had been several days the last time I spent time on studying. So when Alice began her beauty sleep at already nine - and she begged me to sleep as well in the hopes of healing the bags under my eyes overnight, I instead studied until the clock hit almost four and I dropped on bed in exhaustion.

An awful dream haunted me that night. A thousand birds attacked me hard and fast, suffocating me until I slowly felt life drain out of me.

I awoke with a gasp at the sound of the radio, coming from my bed. Alice slept in it, as I was perfectly comfortable on the couch.

"Alice..." I muttered when I saw it was only six in the morning.

Thankfully the noise ended so that I could sleep some more in silence.

"Bella, wake up! It's time for our power breakfast! And-"

"Alice..." I moaned in pain. "I'm sleepy. Why are you up so early?"

"To get ready of course! We only have six hours."

Where did she collect her energy from, I wondered.

"Alright, you sleep for just one more hour, okay? I'll take a shower and cook us breakfast."

That being said I was gone before she'd even entered the bathroom.

Time is a funny thing when you sleep. You can't remember the amount that's passed. Sometimes it feels like you've slept for says. other times, you might as well have slept for only five minutes. That's what it felt like to me when Alice's music awoken me once again. This time however, I smelt coffee, waffles and shampoo.

She brought a cup of coffee for me and a glass with juice for herself. And she brought on a large plate at least ten warm waffles. In a bowl she'd cut fruits.

"I followed one of your recipes," she said, snapping a picture with her fancy iPhone.

It was another way for her to track how much she ate. If it made her comfortable, who was I to object?

"Looks and smells amazing," I said tiredly and completely unhungry.

But for the fact that she'd baked this for me, I ate three of the waffles with some fruit. I was surprised to see Alice eat the double amount. Usually, she ate less or exactly the same as I.

She spoke quickly about make-up, hair and the clothes which she had already placed on a neat pile; her outfit and mine.

I only nodded tiredly and completely trusted she'd do a fine job on both of us.

She probably didn't even notice the amount of food she was eating and that felt pleasantly good. It was a good road to recovery.

"I should get shower as well."

I let the hot water soothe my aching, tired muscles. Tears which I could not stop in time fell and mixed with the water.

Today, it was the day dad died.

Today I was forced into a trial, sued for something which was still vague. I would enter a courtroom, feeling unprepared and scared.

Today, unfortunately, I would see Edward Cullen.

Mostly, I was exhausted from everything. All my energy was taken from me.

I had plans for today. Sleep and wake up on the 25th. I wanted to skip this day and pretend it never happened. But then the universe threw Alice to me.

And Edward. With his lies. I didn't breach any laws.

I told myself to stop thinking about it. I cried, I pittied myself and now life continued. Soon enough it would be three o'clock anyway.

Something was different in my bathroom. The shampoo I normally used was gone. As was my conditioner and shower cream. In fact, everything was replaced, even my toothbrush.

Everything looked a lot more fancy. And very expensive.

Afterwards the heavy but pleasant scent of strawberry lingered in my hair. I wrapped myself in my bathrobe and entered the living room.

"Where are all my shower stuff?" I asked Alice.

"That shampoo of yours is a very bad detergent-like fluid that kills your hair. I bought you some of my products. Did you like them?"

I noticed she was wearing my red dress, instead of that slutty yellow dress.

"They're great, but what have you done to my shampoo?" I asked, but wondering if she put on my dress by mistake.

"I poured it all through the drain. It was very satisfactory."

I pointed at her and asked, "I thought you were wearing the yellow one."

"I know."

"Do you mean, you don't want the yellow one anymore? You can wear the red one, it's alright. I can search if I have anything else suitable for a party."

"You don't," she said.

She picked up the yellow one and handed it to me.

"I bought it for you. Merry Christmas, Bella."

My lips parted, but I was unable to speak. The gesture was heart melting, but the dress...

"I know you hate the dress, Bella. I'm not blind. But my family has been so unkind to you. I want all eyes to turn on you today."

I took the dress carefully and couldn't prevent a smile.

"I'm quite shy," I said. "What if I don't want all eyes turned on me?"

"Shy," she said. "I noticed from all the clothes in your closet."

Then her eyes widened. Her hand slapped her mouth shut.

"I can't believe I said that. I meant, you have very basic clothes, except for this one dress."

"It's fine Alice. You didn't offend me. I'm still thunderstruck at this very generous present. You told me you wouldn't buy me anything."

"Technically, I didn't, because by then I already bought this dress. Oh please, Bella. Wear the dress."

Carefully I agreed and she squeaked.

"Awesome! But first make-up to keep the dress clean."

I sat down and watched her collect too many products.

"Will you please not turn me into a Barbie doll?"

In response, she laughed.

She was quiet as she worked. Whenever she didn't order me to shut my eyes, I looked at her as she worked with great concentration. Everything she applied was branded.

Next she found a curling iron in her bag and added curls in my wavy hair. I was curious to see her progress thus far.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"I think I'll add a braid, like a head band. It would be beautiful with the curls."

She finished with braiding some of my hair on top of my head. She tightened it with bobby pins. I felt her pull apart my braid, a technique I knew. It made the braid larger and prettier.

"First wear the dress before you look in the mirror," she demanded. "And all the correct accessories I added."

She handed me light blue T-straps shoes with open toes, and...light blue lingerie.

"Alice?"

"You have to feel sexy as much as look sexy. You need lingerie. I checked your bra size before I bought this so no excuses."

"Alice..."

The girl had gone to Victoria's Secret for this lingerie. I guessed the shoes weren't the cheap $10 ones which I would've bought.

"They match the shoes and dress."

I sighed and got dressed in an outfit with a probable total sum of $500.

Before I looked, I showed her what I looked like. She stared with so much glee that I found it hard to tell her all the negatives of the outfit, like the prize and very low cut.

Instead, I broadly smiled.

"Do I look like all eyes will turn to?"

"Absolutely."

I walked toward the mirror.

"Oh, wow," I said stupidly.

I expected too much mascara, blush, lipstick, curls, yellow, heels... just too much.

It was perfect. Everything combined together was perfect.

"Where have you learned to see like this? You could seriously do anything in the department of art. House decoration, drawing, music. I don't think many people can change this dress into something quite magical."

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

When Alice worked on her own hair and make-up, I pretended to clean my closet. In truth, I was collecting court-appropriate clothing, yamming it inside a backpack.

"Should we lunch here?" I asked.

"There will be plenty of food there, unless you're hungry now."

"I'm craving cheese toasties. I'll have a mini lunch. I don't want them to see my very horrible eating habits and think I only came for the food."

"It'll be fine. There will be too many people for them to give you a hard time. I'll have some lunch too. But don't you dare drop food on your dress."

The castle was about half an hour away and by the time we arrived it was just after twelve.

I gazed at the beautiful building, obviously used often for large events. There was nobody outside, but that could be blamed on the cold. I noticed several cars, so at least it wasn't just Alice's family and me.

We stepped out. Alice had given me a small black shoulder bag. I had my phone, wallet and car keys in them. That basically filled the bag.

"It's quiet," Alice said.

I hoped that didn't mean what they usually said...the calm before the storm.

"There are some people judging by the cars," I said optimistically.

"Very few..."

I sighed.

"Ready, Alice?"

"I wish I was."

We took slow steps, side by side, toward the entrance. Once in, I heard a few people talking and I believed I even saw several people dancing.

We were soundless as we walked through a second door into the party.

I noticed at least ten people whom I didn't know,but I saw her parents as well.

And Rosalie.

However...I never expected to see in this crowd Emmett and Edward. When I did, all that Alice once told me about her brother made sense. All those comments she made...

She had been describing Edward.

That day when I brought Alice to the hospital, and when I saw Edward in the cafe...

The man that was suing me was Alice's brother.

I remembered my lawyer's one simple request; don't speak or seek contact with Edward Cullen.

I had to get our of here.