Author's Notes: Hello everyone! I am so incredibly sorry that it has taken me so long to post! I moved a couple of days ago, and my life is still a bit chaotic. I was forced to put this story on the back burner for a while. But don't worry. I am not giving up. Thank you to anyone who has stuck with me.
None of this belongs to me. I am making no profit off of any of it. The characters in this story all belong to Stephanie Meyer. Inspiration for this story and most dialogue comes from Twilight or Midnight Sun.
Please review! Thanks for reading.
Chapter 12
As I was getting ready for school the next morning I noticed the small news report on CNN. A poor-quality picture of the large man who had almost attacked Bella accompanied the ten-second report.
"Alonzo Calderas Wallace, suspected serial rapist and murderer wanted in the states of Texas and Oklahoma, was apprehended last night in Portland, Oregon thanks to an anonymous tip. Wallace was found unconscious in an alley early this morning, just a few yards from a police station. Officials are unable to tell us at this time whether he will be extradited to Houston or Oklahoma City to stand trial."
"The coverage here in town will be light," I said to Edward, who was watching the report beside me. "It's too far away to be considered of local interest. It was a good call to have Carlisle take him out of state."
Edward nodded. He seemed lost in thought. Finally he asked, "Alice, do you mind-"
I smiled and interrupted. I didn't need my gift to know the answer to his question. "Rosalie will drive. She'll act pissed, but you know she'll enjoy the excuse to show off her car." I laughed.
Edward smiled at me. "See you at school."
I sighed wistfully. He was going to see Bella. Again. And I hadn't seen her once. When Edward grimaced, I thought, I know, I know. Not yet. I'll wait until you're ready for Bella to know me. You should know, though, this isn't just me being selfish. Bella's going to like me, too.
Edward left. I turned the television off and ran upstairs to ask Rose if she would drive.
Just like I had predicted, Rosalie pretended it was a huge inconvenience to have to drive. But I saw her smile when she got into the driver's seat of her M3, and I knew she wasn't too unhappy.
We got to school before Edward and Bella, and I walked to Government sadly. I wanted to know how Bella would react to Edward this morning, now that she knew the truth. Would she be different? Would she keep her distance? I sighed. I guessed I would just have to wait until lunch to observe her.
Once again, the purgatory of high school passed painfully slow. I was anticipating lunch, when I could finally overhear Bella and Edward speak. So the monotony of school seemed even more unbearable. In Spanish, we began presentations on our favorite food. I pretended to sleep while secretly looking in the future for more information about where Jasper would take me on our anniversary. In Gym we began the badminton unit. I shared the class with Edward, and we were paired together, as always. The other students were too intimidated by us to want to work with one of the mysterious Cullens. I spent most of Gym staring at the ceiling. I would idly swing at the birdie whenever it came my way, forcing myself to miss now and again.
When Coach Clapp ended class a little early, I thought to Edward, Enjoy yourself. Just a few days more to be patient. I suppose you won't say hi to Bella for me, will you?
Edward shook his head with an irritated look on his face.
FYI, it's going to be sunny on both sides of the sound this weekend. You might want to rearrange your plans, I thought. Then I took off for the women's locker room.
I got changed quickly and hurried off to meet Jasper at the door of his English class.
"Hello, gorgeous," he said when he saw me.
I smiled, always happy to see him. "Hello, good sir. I was wondering if you would accompany me to lunch." I raised one eyebrow at him, daring him to play along.
He smiled and gave a theatrical bow. "Why of course, fair damsel. I would be delighted." He held out one arm a foot away from his body. I giggled and took his arm, laying my hand atop his.
We walked to lunch this way, although quickly dropped our hold on each other when we entered the cafeteria. Jasper and I did not like to be as demonstrative as Rosalie and Emmett, or some of the other couples walking around the campus.
We bought some random food and sat down at our usual table. Rosalie and Emmett were already there. The four of us sat and played with our food idly, waiting for one more period of purgatory to pass. To amuse myself, I focused on the conversation between Edward and Bella. The two of them had just sat down at what was becoming their regular table.
"What would you do if someone dared you to eat food?" Bella asked in what I'm sure she meant to be a quiet voice.
"You're always curious," Edward said with the faintest bit of a groan. There was a long pause, during wish I grew incredibly frustrated that I had promised myself I would not look over to their table. Finally Edward said, "If someone dared you to eat dirt, you could, couldn't you?" Due to the smug tone of his voice, I assumed he had taken a bite of human food. Poor Edward. He would have to choke it back up later.
"I did once… on a dare. It wasn't so bad."
Edward laughed. "I suppose I'm not surprised."
Across the table from me Rosalie rolled the orange in front of her in a circle several times, around and around. Emmett and Jasper were having a quiet conversation about a baseball game they wanted to organize soon.
"Jessica's analyzing everything I do," Edward said to Bella. "She'll break it down for you later."
There was another pause. I stared at Rosalie's hands, which continued to roll the orange in a slow circle. Then I heard Edward say, "So the waitress was pretty, was she?"
"You really didn't notice?" Bella asked in an arch tone of voice.
"No. I wasn't paying attention. I had a lot on my mind."
"Poor girl," Bella said, although it did not sound as if she meant it. I smiled.
"Something you said to Jessica… well, it bothers me," Edward said slowly.
"I'm not surprised you heard something you didn't like. You know what they say about eavesdroppers."
I wanted to laugh out loud. I had been telling that to Edward for years.
"I warned you I would be listening," Edward said.
"And I warned you that you didn't want to know everything that I was thinking," Bella retorted.
Point for Bella, I thought with another smile.
"You did," Edward returned with a thick voice. "You aren't precisely right, though. I do want to know what you're thinking- everything. I just wish… that you wouldn't be thinking some things."
I rolled my eyes. Jasper gave me a strange look, and I shook my head at him. Stupid Edward. Wanting everything to be just his way.
"That's quite a distinction," Bella said over at her table.
"But that's not really the point at the moment."
"Then what is?" Bella asked intently.
"Do you truly believe that you care more for me than I do for you?" Edward asked. His voice was quiet and unsure, and made me desperate to turn around and take a glance at his face.
Over the sound of the babbling students I heard Bella's breathing stop. When it resumed it came out in a ragged gasp. "You're doing it again," she accused.
"What?" Edward said.
"Dazzling me," Bella said in an embarrassed tone of voice.
"Oh," was all Edward had to say to that.
Ten tables over I put my head in my hand. My silly oblivious brother. Next to me Jasper gave a little chuckle. He had obviously begun to listen to their conversation as well. I hadn't noticed when his talk with Emmett had ended.
"It's not your fault. You can't help it," Bella said.
"Are you going to answer my question?" Edward asked angrily.
"Yes," Bella said quietly.
Another pause.
"Yes, you are going to answer, or yes, you really think that?" Edward demanded.
"Yes, I really think that," Bella said. She sounded vaguely sad or embarrassed. I couldn't tell which without looking at her face.
"You're wrong," Edward said solemnly.
Bella whispered, "You can't know that."
"What makes you think so?"
When it took Bella longer than a few seconds to respond, I almost turned around. "Let me think," she said, as obviously my brother grew annoyed with her waiting to answer. So we simply sat still and waited impatiently.
"Well, aside from the obvious," Bella said, "Sometimes… I can't be sure- I don't know how to read minds- but sometimes it seems like you're trying to say goodbye when you're saying something else."
"Perceptive," Edward whispered. Ten tables over I nodded, silently agreeing. "That's exactly why you're wrong, though-" Edward rushed to explain.
"What does she mean, 'she doesn't know how to read minds?'" Rosalie asked.
I whipped my head towards her. I had not been aware that she had been paying attention to their conversation either.
"Yes," Emmett said and leaned in across the table towards me. "What does the human mean? Alice?"
I could feel Jasper's gaze burning into the side of my face and I winced. This was not the way that I wanted everyone to find out that Bella knew about us.
I looked into the future as fast as I could, trying to see how best to deal with this situation. My instincts told me to tell everyone later, to promise them an explanation as soon as we got home. But my vision of that scenario was incredibly ugly- it involved physical violence, destruction of property, and some seriously sensational screaming. In fact, it was possible that Rose might not be able to wait until we got home before she demanded an answer. So I did the only thing I could.
"I need you all to promise to take this calmly, all right?" I asked while staring at Rosalie. "Last night, in Port Angeles, Edward confirmed for Bella the truth about his gift." I said this as quietly as possible, even though anyone passing by would not know what I was referring to from my conversation.
Rosalie gave a short hiss of an inhale. Jasper clenched my thigh so tightly it would have bruised a human. I looked at Emmett, for once the calmest of the bunch, and said, "That's not all. On their drive back, Edward told Bella about us."
Instantly my stomach jerked to the right and my mind was full of the image of Rosalie running across the cafeteria at full speed. She would slam to a stop at Edward's feet and begin screaming obscenities at him, heedless of the shocked and frightened stares of the students around her.
When I could see the present again, I saw that Emmett had wrapped his arm around Rosalie tightly, pinning her to his side. "Easy, Rose," he said quickly and quietly.
I winced. Sorry, Edward, I called out with my thoughts. She could tell Bella knew too much from your conversation… and, well, it would have been worse if I hadn't told her the truth right away. Trust me on that. As proof I pulled out the image of his favorite car from my earlier vision, his prized Aston Martin, burning and broken.
"Look, you all need to calm down. It's not a big deal," I said to the rest of my family.
"Calm down? Not a big deal?" Jasper repeated. "The human knows about us!" He lowered his voice even more and leaned in. "She could expose us," he hissed.
I shook my head. "Bella won't do that. Trust me. I know." I tapped the side of my head. "Besides, I'll have proper warning if she does."
Jasper didn't look convinced. Rosalie was still being restrained by Emmett, who also looked pretty furious. But no one was about to immediately hurt anyone else, and that was enough for me. "We'll talk about it with Carlisle tonight, all right?" I said, and turned back to Edward and Bella's conversation.
"But you never told me-" Edward was saying. "Are you resolved on going to Seattle, or do you mind if we do something different?"
"I'm open to alternatives. But I do have a favor to ask," Bella said.
"What?"
"Can I drive?" Bella requested.
"Why?"
"Well, mostly because when I told Charlie I was going to Seattle, he specifically asked if I was going alone and, at the time, I was. If he asked again, I probably wouldn't lie, but I don't think he will ask again, and leaving my truth at home would just bring up the subject unnecessarily. And also, because your driving frightens me."
"Of all the things about me that could frighten you, you worry about my driving," Edward said in a disgusted voice.
Just then I felt the familiar warning signs of a vision. I let myself sink into it. The first recognizable object in the vision was Edward, so I called out in my thoughts to him. Edward! I alerted him to the fact that I was having a vision. Then I looked around the surroundings of my vision and noticed that I was in a familiar meadow in the woods west of Forks. The sun would be shining brightly that day, illuminating every strand of grass and wildflower. Edward was not the only figure I could see in the vision. Bella was there as well. Rainbows from Edward's skin were reflecting onto Bella's face, and her eyes were open wide.
I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's the same place, I thought. My body filled up with tension as horror filled me. This was the place where Bella would die.
Edward! I thought as I saw the Edward in my vision suddenly lose control. His eyes would grow wide with lust, his body would sink into a crouch, and then he would lunge. I love her, Edward! I cried out in my mind, desperately hoping Edward was paying attention.
When the vision was over and I was fully in the present, I turned around in my seat and glared at Edward, but he was turned away from me. I sighed and turned back around to face Emmett, who still had his arm around Rosalie. I was tired of overhearing Bella and Edward's conversation, tired of sitting still and pretending not to fight with my siblings, and tired of staying away from my future friend.
I picked up my tray of food and said, "I'm going to art early. I'll see you later," and sashayed out of the cafeteria.
