I DO NOT OWN TWILGHT

Here is my second update of the night. The next chapter is almost complete, and should be up no later then next week depending on my school load. I know a lot of other stories already have them together at this point, but here's the thing with that, I feel that those stories are too fast and a little unrealistic at times. So, I am trying to keep this story as real as possible, and writing it the best of my ability. There, that's my little rant for the night, but anywho...

Chapter 12...

Chapter 12: Collect Call

BPOV

Thursday morning I staggered lazily across the hall to Alice's room. Her damn alarm clock had woken me up at the ungodly hour of five in the morning. Charlie didn't even get up that early.

I knocked on her door, with much more force then what was really required. "Alice!" I yelled in between my loud pounds. "Alice, why did your stupid annoying, alarm clock wake me up at five?" I growled. Alice's little head poked out of her doorway and smiled. "Well good morning to you too, Sunshine," she greeted me with her bright smile.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, morning," I said narrowing my eyes at the little head that I desperately wanted to flick off right then. "Bella, its seven thirty now, so I suggest you run along and jump in the shower," she said, trying to distract me with her sweet and suspicious smile.

"Alice, what are you doing in there?" I asked as I tried to push past her door. "Nothing," she shouted as she slammed the door in my face, denying me further entrance. "Alice!" I shouted back.

"Fine," I mumbled under my breath after she refused to respond, "I'll find out eventually." I wondered if she was in fact sneaking Jasper into her room at night. It's not like his parents would notice. But, then again, Alice would know better then to sneak a boy into the police chief's home after hours. Half the time, when I was dating Mike, he wasn't even allowed to pass the front door.

After my quick shower, I huffed all the way down the stairs. When I turned the corner Alice was sitting at the table and eating a bagel, with that smile still stuck on her face. If I had anything to say about it, I would have almost called it...mischievous.

"Wow Bella, aren't we looking rough this morning?" she joked while quirking her little head to the side. I wasn't in the mood. Maybe if that damn alarm wasn't ringing at god knows what time, I would look more rested up.

"What were you doing Alice?" I demanded again. I hated secrets. Alice rolled her eyes and threw her head back while she groaned, "Fine, if you must know I have been working on our Halloween costumes for the party tomorrow, and I wanted it to be a surprise," she explained as she turned back to her quick breakfast.

"Alice, you know I hate surprises," I narrowed my eyes at her while I reached for a pop tart; something else had to be going on. Suddenly the whole Jasper theory didn't look so ridicules.

"Well Bella, this is a surprise that you are actually going to love," she smiled and jumped up from her seat. I gaped at her as she rounded the corner, "Come on Bella, we're going to be late!" she called from what sounded like the front door.

I groaned and followed Alice to the Porsche. On my way down the driveway, I frowned at my truck and sighed. Just once I would like to ride up to school in it, but Alice's excuse was, 'I can't ride in that, I'm little and can't jump down from it.' That was a good one, considering Alice hated being called little, but I let her get away with it anyway, despite the fact that I knew what she really wanted.

We pulled up to the school lot, which was just like any other day. Or so it seemed. It wasn't till we got out of the car did I notice that everyone in the area was quiet. Alice and I turned to look in the direction they were all staring at. Jess and Mike were yelling at each other, which was a big difference from what I had seen the yesterday.

I rolled my eyes and remembered that that had been me not too long ago. But now it was different, I was the bystander. Only then had I realized how stupid I had looked yelling on and on about something that was petty and meaningless.

I walked to the building with Alice running to catch up with me. "Kinda like a Twilight Zone isn't it," she commented. I shrugged, brushing it off. It really didn't bother me anymore.

Edward was standing outside my locker when I got there. He wore a crooked smile as he looked up at me from under his eyelashes. I took a deep breath; I swear my heart sputtered – twice.

"Hey, quite a scene out there huh," I said sarcastically. Edward turned to face me as I battled with my locker combination. "I wouldn't know," he started, "I wasn't looking at the crowd, but mostly at the one person that stood out," he said while his graze burned into me. I avoided his deep green eyes, afraid that if I even glanced at him just once I wouldn't be able to escape the green sea that they were.

"Bella," Rose called from the end of the hall. Edward furrowed his brows and turned away from me to make room for her. I was relieved when the space between us increased, but at the same time I craved the closeness again. I was torn.

"Bella, what..." she drifted her gaze awkwardly to Edward and back to me confusingly. "What time am I coming over later?" she asked, finishing her question from earlier. Now I was confused, "Wait, Rose I didn't know that you were coming over later..." I trailed off.

"Oh, Alice didn't tell you?" she asked as if she had expected Alice to. I rapidly shook my head. "Oh, well I'm coming over later to do our final fitting for our costumes." Well Alice, thanks for sharing that information with me.

"Yeah about that, do you know what we're going as?" I asked, hoping that Rose had the slightest clue. She didn't. "No, I just know that Alice said it was creative, and that we would go together. Whatever that means," she shrugged.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" we heard Emmett shout at some poor freshman from around the corner. Rose rolled her eyes, "Okay, well I'm going to freshen up, don't tell Emmett you've seen me. He keeps talking about NYU, and as much as I am happy to soon finally be able to leave this place with him, he, as usual, has gone and over done it." Edward and I both chuckled. "Yeah, sure Rose, I'll see you later," I said as she walked in the opposite direction of Emmett's voice.

I closed my locker as fast as I could so I wouldn't be subjected to Emmett's jabber, but being slow Bella, of course I wasn't fast enough. Emmett threw one arm around my shoulders, and the other around Edward's.

"Hey, have you two seen Rose?" he asked with his mouth full. Emmett, as usual was eating an apple first thing in the morning. You never caught Emmett eating fruit, unless it was an apple. Don't ask why, but he had a thing for apples.

"No, Em I haven't. Sorry," I apologized, mostly for lying to him. But he didn't need to know that minor detail. He looked down at me suspiciously, but he let it drop once he realized that I wasn't going to give anything away.

Edward was still quiet at my side, but I didn't say anything either. "Hey, what were you two talking about?" Emmett asked, seeming more and more interested in the fact that the two of us were supposedly alone. "Umm..." I was at a loss.

"Why we were talking about you Emmett," Edward sarcastically told his cousin with a sly smile. Emmett grinned, "Yeah, isn't it great that I am in your two lives, what would you two do without me? What are the two of you going to do without me while I'm living it up in The Big Apple?" he asked while messing up Edward's hair.

"Gee, I don't know Emmett," Edward said while faking a smile and trying to fix his now messy hair, "But I'm sure we'll manage," he finished. Emmett narrowed his eyes with an evil smirk planting on his features, till he spotted Rose in at her locker.

"Rose," he hollered as he ran to catch up with her, leaving me and Edward behind. I gave Rose an apologetic look, but at the same time I was more then grateful to have gotten rid of Emmett.

"Sorry about Emmett," Edward apologized. I laughed, "It's only Emmett," I said while shrugging my left shoulder. "Yeah, true." Edward agreed. "So, Bella," he began once we had a moment alone. "I was going to ask you what your plans were for after school, but I guess you have some sort of dress rehearsal huh," I sighed. "Yeah, unfortunately my evening consists of an overexcited Alice and a not too enthused Rose."

"Not the best mix now is it?" Edward asked. I shook my head slowly while biting on my lower lip, "You have no idea."

"So, are you still planning on coming to the party tomorrow night?" I asked, hopeful. When I called him last night, I was worried that he would say he had better plans, but part of me thought that he wouldn't mind accompanying me to one of the last Hale holiday parties of the year.

"Yeah, of course Bella, I wouldn't let you lose on the dogs to fend for yourself," he said with his crooked smile. I rolled my eyes, "How thoughtful."

His eyes were looking deep into mine then, and I wondered what exactly it was that he was seeing. I honestly hated my eye colour. It was too dark in my opinion, but Edward seemed to always want to gaze at them. He made me weak in the knees - in a good way.

The bell rung throughout the halls of the school, making us both jump in surprise. "I should...get...to class," I muttered weakly. I really didn't want to move from under his gaze, and despite the fact that I didn't want to return to Ms. Pete's torture chamber, I knew I had no choice.

"Yeah, I should get going too. Carlisle is picking me up at lunch, apparently he wants me to job shadow at the hospital," he said, looking deeply disturbed. "You still haven't told him that you might not want to be a doctor?" I asked, concerned about him. Edward shook his head and gave me that crooked smile. "You still haven't talked to your mom," it wasn't a question.

I narrowed my eyes up at him, "Ah, touché," and I turned and headed toward my first class. I head him chuckle from behind me, but I didn't look back.

After school had let out, Alice rushed me into the Porsche and all the way home. "Bella, we have to hurry, Rose is going to be at the house at four, and I still have last minute adjustments to make to all of our costumes," Alice explained as she practically buckled me in. "Alice," I shouted as I pulled her hands off of the buckle, "I can buckle myself in," I told her while she huffed. "Fine, but do it quickly."

The next thing I knew I was hanging for dear life onto the edge of my seat. Note to self: never get in the car with an over determined and stressed Alice.

She dragged me all the way upstairs, but stopped when we got to her door. "Okay, now Bella, why don't you go downstairs and make us all one of those after school platter thingies your mom used to make," she said as she tried to go into her room. "Alice," I stopped her. "Just tell me, I'm going to know in half an hour anyway," I tried to reason with her. But Alice wouldn't have it.

"No Bella, wait for Rose!" she scolded me just for asking. I crossed my arms over my chest and quirked my eyebrow at her. I wasn't going to budge. Alice rolled her eyes, "Fine," she gave in, "I'll tell you but you can't see till Rose gets here," Alice said firmly as she pointed her harmful index finger at me. I nodded in agreement, that's all I had wanted in the first place.

"Well then nosey Bella, me, you and Rose are going as The Sirens," Alice said with a curt nod. Okay, but weren't The Sirens like...birds? I looked at Alice confused, "Alice, aren't The Sirens like half...birds? I don't do feathers," I whined as I turned to walk to the kitchen.

"You wear what I tell you to wear!" Alice shouted back from the top of the stairs. "Since when Brandon?" I asked annoyed. Alice smiled smugly, "Since Rose put me on costume duty," and she turned on her heels with her head held high and marched off into her room. I was going to kill Rose for giving Alice that power over me.

There was a knock and the door right at four, and Rose stalked in, not needing a formal greeting. She sat in my living room and took out all her nail care supplies. "What's all this for?" I asked as I eyed Rose. "My nail set, Alice asked me to bring it over," she explained. I laughed humorously, "Of course, it makes sense for three birds to have sharp claws doesn't it," Rose nodded and stopped mid nod. "Birds?" she asked. I nodded with a grim smile. "No..." she trailed off shaking her head. I smiled tightly, "Yep," I answered her, popping the 'p.'

Alice bobbed down the stairs then and smile when she seen us both sitting there. "Okay, they're ready for us to try on," she excitedly told us with a single clap of her hands. Rose put her finger up to stop Alice, "Um...I think I recall said tasteful, Alice. Not birds..." she cautiously trailed off, trying to let Alice down easily. Alice frowned at me, "Why are you telling her such lies, Bella? I would never go as a bird. I said The Sirens, not birds," she rolled her eyes and stormed back up the stairs.

Rose and I exchanged confused glances, but followed Alice up the stairs anyway. "But Alice, the Sirens are birds..." I tried to tell her in case she had in fact been misinformed. Everyone in this town had seemed to be misinformed on something.

"Well, not these Sirens," Alice said with a smile as she swung her door open. In the middle of Alice's room was three manikins, each wore a homemade Alice Brandon design. The dresses were all black, and each was a different style.

Alice laughed her sweet little childlike laugh. "Yes The Sirens were half birds, but they were also extremely sexy, captivating and very tempting. Now, since Bella doesn't see herself like that in anyway shape or form, then tomorrow night is a perfect occasion for her to try to act like it. And there's three of us, so why not," Alice said with a casual shrug and she straightened out the dresses.

Rose stepped forward to analyze Alice's work. "Was this what you were working on this morning?" I asked as I fingered one of the dresses. They were absolutely beautiful. "Yeah," Alice sighed, "I had to finish the hem on your dress," she informed me. "Whose is which?" Rose asked as she took a step back too look at them all.

Alice stepped forward and handed Rose the gorgeous figure hugging, halter top style, black dress. Rose smiled and took the dress to the bathroom. I smiled and turned to face Alice who was holding another dress in front of me, which I assumed, was mine. My dress was black as well, but strapless. The bottom portion of the dress was shiny silver, and a bow wrapped around the waist. Alice had truly outdone herself with these.

"Alice, how is this Halloween?" I asked, because I seen no trace of goblins at all in my ensemble. Alice smiled weakly, "I guess it isn't. But you and Rose have been so nice to me since I got here, and I wanted an excuse to make you both...something nice. And besides, it was either this or the birds," she teased. I smiled and hugged her.

Rose came from the bathroom in the dress. She modeled the dress for me and Alice. I had to hand it to Alice: she was talented. It was my turn next, and then Alice put on hers. After the three of us dressed and had fun trying different experiments with our hair styles and makeup, we took pictures of the finished products with Rose's digital camera.

Rose left, with a garment bag in hand, around eight that evening. I had finished my homework at school so I was free for the rest of the night. I treated Charlie to a homemade chocolate cake. He was much appreciative, especially since we made him eat take out from the dinner for supper.

After I had showered and got into clothes more appropriate for sleeping, I crawled in bed with Wuthering Heights around eleven thirty that night. Just as I was drifting off, my phone rang. I rolled over and read the caller ID; Unknown Number.

I groggily flipped open my phone on and answered with the most coherent voice I could manage in my sleepy state.

"Hello?" There was light breathing on the other end, but no response. I sat up straight now, concerned. "Hello?" I asked again, my voice sounding more awake and more urgent.

"Bella, its mom," my mother finally answered me. Her voice had sounded strained and shy and a little shaken up. My own mother was scared to be talking to me. We used to have the best relationship, and now that she was talking to me, I fully realized that it was my fault that we had drifted apart so much, but the phone goes two ways right? She sounded different, and when I thought about it, it had to have been almost three years since I actually heard her voice.

"Hey mom," I whispered, my voice cracking - twice. I was trying hard not to cry. Hearing her voice brought on a whole different emotion that I hadn't expected. Then that damn song, Chapel of Love, played on and on in my head, and it brought on so many heart wrenching memories that I couldn't shake.

I hung up the phone and tossed it across my room and ignored the loud crash it made once it hit the floor. I then turned and started to uncontrollably sob into my pillow. I hated this; I was stronger. I knew I was. But why was I violently, and uncontrollably, crying into my pillow?

I cried myself to sleep that night, and surprisingly hoping for the Halloween party to hurry up and arrive so I could drink my problems away – at least for one night.

Again, I apologize for my writing and grammer errors and all that jazz. If you want to see what thier 'Sirens' outfits look like, you can access the link on my profile. Thank you for reading, and next chapter is going to be a big one so stay tuned for that. As alway,

~DayDreamBeliever'93