I'm back! And ready to type! I forgot to mention in the last chapter that Kamryn Napier is from sunrisejili129! Thank you!
Disclaimer: Ummm… I own Twilight! Thank you! –people start throwing stuff at Alyss while screaming that she doesn't- Okay! Okay! I don't own Twilight! Now stop throwing stuff!
Chapter Twelve: Of The Canine KindToday was… eventful, to say the least.
I got home from Ella's, my strange energy rapidly fading. I was barely awake when I reached the doorstep. Alice opened the door for Bella and I.
She took one look at me and exclaimed, "Valerie! How much sleep did you get last night? You go up to your room right now and go to bed!"
I held out my arms. "Carry me." So she did. Very grudgingly, might I add. I fell asleep within a minute of my head touching the pillow.
When I awoke, I found Alice sitting on a chair that was placed in a corner of my room.
"Have a good rest?"
I nodded as I tried to shake the sleep from my head. Right now, everything seemed to be in a haze.
"Yep. You?"
"Now Valerie! You know very well I don't sleep!" She reprimanded me in mock anger. "I'm up here to compliment you."
"On what?"
"You made Eddie frustrated! You are one of few who have that ability! Congrats!"
I smiled. Alice was so awesome. In many more ways than one.
"Now, you better go downstairs for lunch, Esme will kill you if you're not down there soon. You know how she feels about good nutrition." Alice said.
I groaned. "You make this sound like some horror movie where I'm the main course."
Alice smiled in that way she has. "You never know, Valerie." She skipped out of the room before I could ask her what she meant by that.
Grudgingly, I made my way downstairs where a delicious smell welcomed me. Laid out on the dining room table was food aplenty. Ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, French fries, green beans, a fruit dish, salad, many kinds of dressing, soda, water, ice, milk. It was a lot to take in, but it looked so appetizing that I couldn't help but walk towards it.
As I walked through the doorway to my feast, something popped out in front of me.
"RAWG!!!!!!"
"AAHHHH!!!!!"
The first scream was Alice, and the second was mine, sadly.
Alice smirked up at me (I'm five-foot-three) and said; "See? I told you that you never know."
"Quit being such a know-it-all, Alice." I grumbled as I walked towards the table. "Hey, is anyone else coming over to eat 'cause I know I'm not gonna be able to eat all this by myself."
"Nope."
"Sigh. Esme." I sat down to eat because I didn't want all that food to go to waste. It tasted… beyond delicious. I noticed Alice still standing behind me; making me feel quite awkward.
"Umm… Alice?"
"Mm-hm?" She replied.
"What are you doing still standing there?" Alice fidgeted. She looked like Emmett when he had a huge secret. Or when someone has to go to the bathroom bad. Alice couls never keep a secret for long. "Tell me." She squirmed. I knew I was very close to discovering what it was she was keeping from me. "You know you want to." I said in a singsong voice.
"Okay!" She blurted. "I'm taking you to town today!" I froze, groaned, and put my head on the table, which turned out not to be such a good idea because of my plate of food on front of me. My bangs got a taste of the gravy. Yum.
"We just went clothes shopping last week!" I exclaimed.
"We don't have to go shopping for clothes if you don't want to, Valerie." Alice said in a small voice. I felt ashamed that I had exploded at her when she hadn't even mentioned clothes.
"I was just thinking it could be a girl's day out. You, me Rose, and Esme, if she wants to come." Alice continued. "We can just explore, go to exotic stores, have dinner, well, you have dinner, and just all-around bond." Noticing my expression Alice added, "If you want to."
I threw my arms around her, ignoring the cool temperature of her skin. "That sounds great!" I stepped back, embarrassed. "Sorry about before, Alice. I was a little cranky. Loss of sleep and all."
Now Alice looked like she felt weird then too. "It's okay. You're still my friend, Valerie." She turned to me and grinned. "Now how about that girl's day out?"
We started with just window-shopping. One-by-one we each left the group to go into places of our own interest. Bella went in a bookstore.
"De ja vu?" Alice teased, recalling Bella's nasty experience as a human including a bookstore and some drunks.
"Yep!" Bella called, teasing back. "But this time I'll hurt them instead of them hurting me." We all chuckled. Esme volunteered to go in there too. I heard one of them whispering about once again trying to find my book. I felt so bad, like I was a-a an inconvenience. I sighed.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked.
"Nothing." Alice and Rosalie stared at me. Their looks plainly said, "We don't believe you."
"Okay. There's so many shops, and I want to go into every one." Glancing at a fishing store, I added, "Well, almost every one. But I don't have enough time!" Alice and Rose seemed to think that was a sufficient answer and left me alone after that. Rose stopped to go into a nail salon and Alice goggled over some cute pairs of shoes that were dominating a store window. Soon, I was all alone.
I continued strolling down the street. Something glittery caught my eye as I walked. I turned my head for a second to see what it was and promptly walked into someone.
I fell right on my rear.
"Sorry about that!" Said the someone in question as he loomed over me. "I didn't see you there. Looking away and all. I'm Tony." Tony stretched out a hand to help me up and I gladly took it.
"Valerie." I said, then took a closer look. Tony had shaggy blonde hair that stuck out from under a black skater hat. He was dressed in a long white t-shirt with a gray shirt over top, slightly ripped jeans, sneakers, and, duh, the skater hat. The thing that really stuck out though, were his sparking green eyes filled with friendliness. Something about him was familiar. I voiced this thought aloud as he helped me up. "You look familiar."
Tony laughed and something made me want to laugh along. "You know," Tony said. "That just might have something to do with the fact that I go to your school. Geometry and Literature? Remember?"
"Ahh." Now it all made sense. "You're that kid!"
Tony snorted. "You make me sound so important."
"Well I'm sorry, Mr. not-looking-where-I'm-going." I retorted.
Tony held up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Whoa! Calm down, Valerie." He looked around. "Hey, you wanna get some pizza?"
Since everyone else was gone and I had nothing better to do, I said, "Sure."
We headed down to the pizza place at the end of the block. Tony took a seat and motioned for me to join him, so I sat across from him.
"What do you want?"
"I-I don't really know. I ate lunch about an hour ago and I haven't been here before so I don't know what they have." I managed to get out.
"There is a thing called a menu, you know." Tony joked. I whacked him upside the head as best as I could, considering I was across the table.
"I could've sworn I heard an echo when I hit you. Is your head hollow?"
"No. Is yours?"
We continued to joke around until our meals finally came. I had decided on a personal pan cheese pizza with a side of fruit and Sprite, while Tony got a pepperoni pizza, sundae, and Pepsi. As we ate, we talked about ourselves. I told him my cover-up story about how I moved here, and Tony talked about what he liked to do.
"I hate school. Especially 'F's'."
"Why?" I asked. "Is it because you have one?"
Tony blushed. "Yeah." He mumbled. "Three, actually. You got any, Valerie?"
"Nope." I said proudly. "I am a straight 'A' student who is in volleyball and the book club. Well, Alice forced me into book club, but still. What do you like to do?"
"I love to skateboard. I was trying out some tricks when I ran into you." A look of remembrance came upon Tony's face. "Crap! I forgot my skateboard back there. I have to go."
I stood up with him. "I'll go too." I said.
He looked at the food I still had on my plate. "But you're not done, Valerie. Listen, you keep eating and I'll be back in a little bit."
"No. I'll come. I ate lunch only an hour ago. I'll be fine." Of course, Tony had long since finished his pizza. I swear boys are bottomless pits when it comes to eating.
He and I split the bill and we walked out the door to the corner where we had bumped into each other, and, sure enough, there sat a lonely skateboard.
"My skateboard! I found it!" He exclaimed, picking up the skateboard in a loving embrace. He must have been way too obsessed with skateboarding.
"Yeah, I see that." I said sarcastically, and then glanced at my watch. I cursed. "Dang it! I'm late to meet Alice! She will send out a search patrol if I'm even a second late!"
Tony looked a bit depressed that I had to go. He grabbed my arm as I started to take off. "Wait, Val. Can I at least have your number if you have to leave so soon?"
I quickly rattled off the digits and then ran off, calling over my shoulder, "Bye, Tony! See you in school!" I was sad to go. I had had a lot of fun.
Alice was going hysteric when I reached the place where we were supposed to meet. When she saw me, a look of relief passed over her face. "There you are, Valerie! I was so worried about you!"
When I told her that I'd grabbed a snack with Tony, she looked extremely joyful.
"Eee!" She squealed. "Valerie has a boyfriend! Eee!"
I groaned. I was doing that a lot these days. "Alice, we got pizza. I do not have a boyfriend!"
When Alice continued her happy rant, Bella leaned over and whispered to me, "Don't worry. It'll only last a few weeks and then it will slowly die away. You'll be fine." Yeah, like that was supposed to cheer me up.
During the night, I had a nightmare that I had been having for the past few nights. In the dream, I am living with the Cullens. They are sick and tired of me being there and they wish that I would just go back to my world and never come back. That was why they were throwing themselves into the work about my book. Also in the dream, they blame me for ruining their lives. That night, I snapped. I couldn't stand it anymore. My dream was telling me the truth; I was the cause of most of the Cullens problems. They may say so otherwise, but that was what was really happening. I was just some freak who stumbled into their lives and was ruining everything.
As quietly as I could manage, I slipped on a hiking outfit, a winter coat, and hiking boots. I opened my door a sliver and wiggled out. As I passed Carlisle's study, I heard muffled whispers.
"We have to get her back." It sounded like Carlisle. "She doesn't belong here." I was too upset to notice the tinge of sadness in Carlisle's voice.
"Ugh." That had to be Rose. "I don't know how much more of this I can stand." They all hated me. Wiping away silent tears, I crept outside. If I had only stayed a little bit longer, I would have heard Rosalie finish her sentence; "You know I hate reading, so if I have to read another book, I will barf."
"Um, Rose?" Emmett asked. "You can't barf. You're a vampire."
"I know that, Emmett."
But I didn't stay long enough to hear all that. Maybe it was for the best. If I had heard the rest then I probably wouldn't have continued running away and we never would have discovered what we did. Hold on a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself. Deep breathes.
Anyways, as soon as I thought I was far enough away, I broke into a run. Tears blurred my vision as I ran through branches and leaves. Finally, I had ran out of tears and felt like resting. I sat down on a fallen log and tried to think of what to do. At that point, I had nothing.
I don't know what time it was when I heard a rustle in the bushes. I whipped around in time to see a sandy wolves tail disappear behind a tree.
"Come out." I called, still sniffling. "I know you're out there you werewolf." I was taking a chance, but it might not be a regular wolf. After all, I was in Twilight. "I'm not a vampire. I know I probably have their stink on me, but that's only because I live with the Cullens. You can hear my heartbeat." I must have been convincing, because soon enough, a sandy wolf trotted over to my log, sniffed me, then ran off towards the trees. A few seconds later, a lanky, black-haired teen came into the clearing.
"Sorry if I scared you. I'm Seth Clearwater."
"Valerie Walker… Cullen." Seth gave me a glance that clearly said, "What the huh?"
"My real name is Valerie Walker, but I live with the Cullens now so my last name is now also Cullen. It's a little confusing."
"I see that." Seth said, an amused smile playing on his face. "So… how did you find out about their vampire-ness without being a vamp? Did one of them fall madly in love with you, like Edward did with Bella? What happened, Valerie?"
I heaved a sigh. "It's a little complicated."
"Well then, tell me why you are out in the middle of a forest in the middle of the night."
"Well, a have a… condition."
"Do you mean you're disabled or something?" Seth cut in.
"No." I said quickly. "A different kind of condition."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know how to explain it. Let's see. I can't get back to the place where I'm supposed to be, and I have no idea how to get back there either. The Cullens are trying to help me. There're throwing themselves into research. I get this feeling that they don't like me and they're working so hard because they want to get rid of me!" At this point, I burst into a fresh round of tears.
"Shh. Shh." Seth tried to comfort me. "It'll be fine. Now, what else happened?"
"I-I snuck out t-tonight and as I was l-leaving I h-heard them talking about m-me and it c-confirmed my f-fears. They don't like me!" I managed to get out from between my sobs. "Once I g-got to a safe distance away, I-I ran as fast as I c-could. I stopped here."
"I see." After that, he didn't ask any more questions, just tried to console me.
Once my tears resided, Seth noticed me shivering and said, "Come on, why don't we get you down to La Push where you can warm up, Valerie. I assume you don't want to go back to the Cullens." I shook my head once. "Well let's go then!" He helped me up and guided me down a hill. After that we got to a small house. Seth knocked on the door once, and then opened it, calling over his shoulder, "I'm home!" Then he turned to me. "Wait here while I get a blanket, you can sleep on the house and I'll call Edward in the morning." As he headed up the stair, I thought I heard him mutter, "If he doesn't call us first." I took this chance to look around. The house was small but tidy. A little fireplace stood in one corner, a tiny flame glowing in the hearth. Couches and chairs were scattered around, and a TV stood against a wall. The whole house smelled woodsy. The walls were a warm brown with dark green carpeting. The ceiling was another shade of green. Standing there, you get the feeling that you're standing in a lush forest. On many of the countertops stood miniature porcelain wolves, in all shapes and designs.
A few minutes later, Seth came down holding a fuzzy green blanket.
"Are the only colors in this house brown and green?" I joked. Seth stuck his tongue out at me as he handed me the blanket. I gladly took the blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders as I felt the warmth slowly seep into me. Seth grabbed some pillows and set them down on a random couch.
"Um, thanks, Seth." I mumbled, embarrassed.
"No problem." He said cheerfully. "See you in the morning." He headed upstairs once again. He had been so kind to me. I could see why the Cullens liked him so much.
As I lay back against the couch, I could feel sleep overcome me. My last though before I fell asleep was, "Hmm. This is like a sleepover. Two sleepovers in a row."
"Ugn" I moaned, as a bright light invaded my eyes. I opened them to reveal an unfamiliar setting. I immediately started to panic. Where was I? What was I doing here? Then last night's events came rushing back to me. Oh, yeah. Now I remembered.
"Ew." Someone said. "It smells like leeches in here." That was probably Leah. In the books they had described her as mean and rude, with a low tolerance for vampires.
"Shut up, Leah." That answered my question. Suddenly, a familiar face popped up above me. "Are you awake, Valerie?"
In response, I said "Uhn."
"Well, that answers that!" Seth replied, as cheerful as ever. "Waffles and bacon for breakfast! Better get up soon if you want there to be any left!" Then he walked away. I could hear him explaining my situation to his family in another room.
Finally, I managed to get off the couch and walk sleepily into the kitchen and plop into a random seat at the table. Sue Clearwater (I presumed) placed a plate of waffles and bacon in front of me.
"I'm sorry about staying the night. I didn't plan on it." I said.
"It's okay, sweetie. Seth told us about what happened to you." Sue replied.
"Just don't make a habit of it." Leah muttered from across the table. Sue and Seth both gave her sharp glares. She stared right back, and then put her plate in the sink and walked off.
"I'm sorry about her. She's always a little grumpy." Seth said.
"Seth!" Sue exclaimed. "Even if she was rude, you have mo reason to go and badmouth your sister!"
I continued to eat through all this. As I was finishing, the phone rang and Seth went to pick it up. He talked for a while, and then wordlessly held out the phone to me.
"Hello?" I said.
"Valerie Walker/Cullen, you are so grounded!" Alice screeched into the phone. I winced.
"Um… sorry?"
"Sorry does not cut it! I will be meeting you at the border in ten minutes! No exceptions!" Then she hung up.
I slowly turned around. "What happened?" Seth asked.
"I am so dead."
"Yeah, I heard that part. I think most of Canada did too." I had to smile at Seth's words.
"I'm supposed to meet Alice at the border in ten minutes."
"Okay. Let's get ready."
We actually reached the border before Alice did, so we sat sown to talk.
"Can you tell me about your condition now?" Seth questioned.
I bit my lip. "Not now. I'll try to see if I can. Right now is probably not the best time." Seth nodded his head in agreement. At hat moment, Alice pulled up. I waved goodbye to Seth as I got into the car. He waved back before disappearing into the trees
After a long lecture about never doing that again and how worried she was, she asked an intriguing question. "How did you get out?"
I stared at her like she was crazy. "I snuck out."
"No! I mean, how did you get out without us hearing?"
Dun, dun, dun! The plot unfolds! Thank you, um… Tony for Tony. Sorry it took me so long to update. I was at my grandma's all weekend and I forgot to bring my laptop. If I had, then the chapter would have been up sooner. Again, sorry! It's all my fault! Please review!
Song Of The Day: Always Something There To Remind Me – Naked EyesLove,
Alyss 