Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

Bella POV—Sixteen (Finally!!)

"Call me later Bella!" Alice chirped as I climbed out of Edward's silver Volvo. It was about three and they were driving me home, as usual. Winter break just ended, and we were still getting back into the swing of things.

"You got it girl!" I called back. "Bye Alice! Bye Edward!" I waved as they drove off, before turning and opening the door. I realized Charlie's cruiser was in the driveway, which is extremely unusual for this early hour. I felt nervous butterflies in my stomach. This couldn't be good. I took a step inside and saw Charlie sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hi Dad. Why are you home so early?" I asked cautiously. He grimaced, clearly wishing he could put off this conversation. The nervous butterflies turned into nervous bees, attacking my stomach.

"Well…do you remember my sister Susan?" he asked. I nodded. "And you know how she married that Italian man, Alessandro and they live in Italy now?"

"Yeah." Charlie and his sister barely ever talked, since they lived so far away from each other and lived completely different lifestyles.

"Well they have a daughter about your age. Her name is Marietta. She's going to be coming to stay for us for a while," he said carefully.

"Like in our house? Why?" I asked. I didn't really know how to feel about this. I know Susan and Alessandro are much richer then us, so she would probably get along with Alice, if she likes shopping. But would I like her? Would she like me?

"Well Susan wants her to come here for the remainder of her junior and senior years so she can apply to American colleges. And she will be in our house," he said.

"Wow. When is she coming?" Charlie took a deep breath.

"Today. I'm leaving to pick her up at the airport in ten minutes," he said. Wow, way to wait till the last minute to tell me this Charlie, I thought to myself.

"Is she staying in my room?" I asked nervously. Charlie nodded.

"I thought maybe you could invite Alice and Rosalie over, have them get to know each other," he suggested. I nodded.

"Yeah, sure," I answered. Alice would jump at the chance to throw a party, no matter what the occasion.

"Okay. I'd better get going." He stood up and walked over to the door. He paused, seeming to struggle with himself. Then he turned around. "Marietta hasn't really had the best life. Her parents are always away and she's been shuffled from relative to relative for years. Try and make her feel welcome okay?"

"Of course," I agreed instantly. I knew it must have been bad if Charlie was being so serious about it.

"Bye Bells," he said, waving once before shutting the door behind him. I sat in shock down in one of the shabby kitchen chairs, in complete shock.

I was about to live with a cousin I had never met. That I'd never even heard of. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Alice's number.

"Hey Bella!" she sang when she answered.

"Hey Alice. Guess what?"

"You finally realized you're in love with Edward and you want him to come over so you can do it all night long?" she guessed, half joking, half serious.

"Ha ha ha, no," I said flatly.

"Then what?" she asked curiously.

"Well my long lost cousin Marietta is coming to live with me for a while. She used to live in Italy and she's coming today." I had to hold the phone away from my ear as Alice screamed in excitement.

"Oh my God! She'll have to show me all her designer Italian clothes! And I can take her shopping! This is so exciting!" she squealed. I giggled.

"So will you come over with Rose to greet her?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course! I'll bring the whole family! And Jasper! I gotta go Bella I'll be over in five minutes!" She didn't wait for me to say goodbye, she just hung up, in usual eager Alice fashion.

Four and a half minutes later there was a loud knock on the door. I ran to open it and Alice sprinted inside already jabbering on about baking a cake. Jasper, Emmett and Edward followed her, laughing at their sisters craziness. Esme and Carlisle came in behind them, smiling warmly, Esme holding a plate of fudge brownies.

"Thanks for having us Bella," Esme said kindly, handing me the brownies. "We would love to make your cousin feel welcome."

"Oh yeah what's this chicks name again?" Emmett yelled. Rosalie flicked him on the back of the head. "I mean what's your cousins name?" Rosalie smiled approvingly.

"Marietta," I said. "She's my age."

"Is she good looking?" he asked. Rosalie sighed loudly. "What! This is for educational purposes only!" he said defensively. Rosalie shook her head.

"I've never seen her before. I have no clue what she looks like," I answered truthfully.

"Well if she's related to Bella we know she'll be clumsy," Edward said. Everyone laughed and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"And she'll blush a lot," Emmett added, which of course made me blush.

"And she will be beautiful," Alice added. "If she lets me give her makeovers which she never does."

"I thought we were talking about Marietta," I grumbled. Alice laughed her wind chime like laugh.

A little less then an hour later Alice had made a cake and written Welcome Marietta on it in pink frosting. We were all waiting in the living room for Charlie to return. Alice was the first to see the cruiser and she shrieked.

"She's here!" she announced.

"Let Bella greet her first, then we can unleash our family on her," Edward suggested. Alice looked disappointed, but took a step back and I gave Edward a grateful smile. I watched out of the window as Charlie unloaded many bags from the car. Marietta had her back to us but from what I could see, she had long wavy brown hair. It was the same color as mine, but longer. She was wearing a mint green mini dress and tights, holding one bag on her arm. Her and Charlie made their way to the door, but she kept her head down. I opened the door for them. Charlie shuffled by, upstairs to drop Marietta's bags.

"Marietta?" I said lightly. She looked up at me. Her cheeks were flushed pink and she was clearly embarrassed. Her skin was tanner then mine and her eyes were a lighter brown, but all of her features were very similar, if not identical. We could've easily passed as sisters. She was very pretty.

"Isabella?" she asked. Her voice had a heavy Italian accent. I nodded. She smiled and kissed both of my cheeks in greeting.

"Bella," I corrected.

"Bella," she repeated with a smile. "Beautiful. It suits you." I grinned back, blushing.

"It's really good to meet you," I said.

"You too. Forks is…rainy." She wrinkled her nose slightly and I laughed.

"You'll get used to it," I promised. She seemed nice and kind, I knew instantly we would get along. We were interrupted by a loud ahem from behind us. I turned and rolled my eyes at Alice.

"Marietta this is my friend Alice," I introduced. Alice leapt forward and kissed both of Marietta's cheeks.

"Hi! It's so good to meet you! You look just like Bella, except more Italian. We have to go shopping sometime! You're clothes are adorable I love that dress!" Alice said rapidly. Marietta seemed slightly afraid.

"Excuse her, she's a little hyper." Edward's velvet voice cut Alice short. "I'm Edward," he said, holding out his hand. Marietta ignored it and kissed his cheeks instead.

"He's my best friend," I added.

"Si?" she said curiously. "Lui é molto bello," she whispered to me.

"Oh." I didn't really know what to say but I didn't like the way she was looking at Edward. She looked dazzled and impressed. "Um, that's Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper." I pointed them out. "And they are Esme and Carlisle, the Cullen's." I noticed Rosalie narrow her eyes slightly when Marietta kissed Emmett's cheeks but I knew she meant nothing by it. That was just how they did things in Italy.

"It's very nice to meet all of you," Marietta said.

"You too dear," Esme said sweetly.

"Scusi? Dove il bagno?" she asked, turning to me. She seemed to realize I didn't know what she meant so she quickly added, "The bathroom I mean."

"Upstairs, middle door," I said.

"Grazie," she said gratefully before hurrying up the stairs. I noticed Charlie was back, chatting with Carlisle. Edward came over and leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"What do you think of her?" he murmured, sending shivers down my spine.

"She seems nice," I said.

"She's very pretty," he said. I suddenly felt a stab of jealousy, put I pushed it away. I always said I wanted Edward to get a girlfriend. I'd just appreciate it if that girl wasn't my cousin. "She looks a lot like you." Did he just say I was very pretty? Or did he just mean she was a prettier version of me? I thought rapidly. He straightened up and I noticed Marietta coming back downstairs. She came back up to me and Edward, smiling at both of us.

"Are you two together?" she asked curiously. I blushed furiously.

"No, we're just friends," Edward answered. Marietta looked surprised

"Mi dispiace. I just thought…I mean the way you look at each other…" she trailed off awkwardly.

"We've been best friends basically since we were born," I explained. She nodded. "But Emmett and Rosalie are together. And Alice and Jasper." She turned around in time to see Emmett give Rose a quick peck and Alice and Jasper were holding hands. She nodded once before turning back to us.

"Where in Italy did you live?" Edward asked curiously.

"Roma," she answered dreamily. "Molto, molto bello." She used her hands to punctuate her words, like she was illustrating her sentences with her hands.

"Do you miss it?" Edward asked sympathetically.

"Si. Every day. But America has it's perks too," she said, raising her eyebrows slightly, her voice seductive.

"Yes, although I'm sure Italy has some perks as well," Edward murmured, smirking back at her. I think my jaw literally hit the floor. They were flirting. Marietta was flirting with Edward. Edward was flirting with Marietta.

"Well maybe you could show me some of these American perks?" she asked. I was instantly jealous of her alluring voice and accent. I waited for Edward to politely decline, like he did with every other girl.

"I'd like that," he said. I stared at him in shock. He peeked at me and his smirk grew more pronounced. I wrapped my hand around his and squeezed his fingers, getting him to look at me.

"Can we talk?" I hissed. He nodded.

"Excuse me," he said to Marietta, who was watching me with curious eyes. I dragged him away from her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" I whisper shouted. He looked taken aback, but I thought I saw some smugness flash in his eyes.

"I am talking to your cousin," he replied.

"No you are shamelessly flirting with my cousin," I snapped.

"So? You're always telling me to find a girlfriend. Maybe I like your cousin," he said defensively. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Fine. Fine then. But how would you like it if I dated your cousin?" I asked skeptically.

"I wouldn't. I don't like it when you date anyone Bella," he said quietly. I was about to ask him what that meant when we were interrupted.

"Scusi? Bella?" Marietta came up, looking timid.

"Yeah?" I asked. She took a step back at my harsh tone and I gave her an apologetic smile. Be nice, I reminded myself.

"Charlie wants to talk to you," she said tentatively.

"Okay. Thanks." I gave Edward a meaningful look and stalked away to find Charlie. He was talking to Esme and Carlisle still.

"Hey Dad, Marietta said you wanted me," I said.

"Right. Esme and Carlisle are about to leave so I wanted to ask you if you could find Alice. We think she's in your room but we're not positive," he said calmly. I nodded and half ran up the stairs. When I opened the door, sure enough, there was Alice, peeking in Marietta's suitcases.

"Alice! What are you doing!?" I squealed, giggling.

"Sorry I just wanted to see her clothes," she said instantly, dropping the purse in her hands. "This is original Fendi! It's not even available in America yet!" I laughed. Alice and her fashion.

"You're leaving Alice. Get out of here," I mock scolded. She smiled.

"So I noticed Edward and Marietta seem to be getting along nicely," she said casually. I tensed slightly.

"They were just talking. Plus it doesn't matter to me anyways," I said, but my voice sounded unsure and shaky.

"Sure it doesn't." She gave me a knowing look, winked, and left the room. I followed behind her and saw everyone ready to leave. Emmett gave me a big bear hug before leaving.

"Bye Bella!" Alice sang in an I-know-something-you-don't-know voice. Edward came over and hugged me quickly, pecking my cheek before leaving.

"Bye guys!" I called.

"Ciao!" Marietta sang, waving her delicate fingers. Once the door was closed Charlie came up behind us, placing a hand on each of our shoulders.

"How did you like the Cullen's and Hale's Marietta?" he asked.

"They were very nice," she said sincerely.

"That's good. Well I'm going to head up to bed. You two ought to go too, since it's a school night and all," he said. He clapped me on the shoulder once before clomping up the stairs. I turned to Marietta.

"Ready?" I asked. She nodded and followed me upstairs to my- our- room. She changed into pajamas and climbed onto the air mattress. I felt kind of guilty that she had to sleep on it but Charlie said her bed should arrive tomorrow. I turned off the lights and snuggled under my blankets.

"Bella?" Marietta asked suddenly.

"Hm?" I answered sleepily.

"Do you…like Edward? I mean, as more than a friend?" she asked her voice a mixture of caution and eagerness.

"No," I answered too quickly. She didn't seem to notice.

"Is he single?" she asked, the eager beating out he caution.

"Um, yeah," I mumbled. I could feel myself getting angry, but I knew it wasn't Marietta's fault.

"He's very good looking," she giggled.

"Yeah. But he doesn't really date," I said. It was the truth, but I had a feeling Edward thought Marietta was "very good looking" too. The thought hurt me much more then it should.

"Oh. Well I can try," she decided finally.

"Right. Well goodnight Marietta," I said, ending the subject.

"Buona notte Bella."

A/N: Okay so they're sixteen and they will stay sixteen for a while, I'm not sure how many chapter yet. And if anyone is confused about any of the Italian words, just ask, although I tried to make them simpler ones. REVIEW please!!