Marley, Alice and Jasper had managed to squeeze in Bath and Body Works and Borders before the mall closed. She was surprised by that actually since Marley had figured that there was no way that they'd get in all those stores in the time they had afterschool but Alice made it work somehow. She was surprised when Jasper and Alice helped her carry in all her bags from the mall though. Marley hadn't realized how 'overboard' Alice had gone. At least not until they were hefting all the bags to her front door.
"I still think that we should take some of this back," Marley said, shaking her head a little bit. This was just too much and she really didn't know how Alice had been able to convince her to get all of this stuff. "I really don't need all this, Alice." Marly had at least eight bags in her hands and there were at least a couple dozen more that Alice and Jasper had as well.
Alice made a face and shook her head at that though, following Marley into the house and up the stairs to her room. "You're keeping all of it, Marley. You deserve it. Besides I know you wanted all of it. Please just keep it," she said with a little nod that seemed to say that it was final and that there would be no more arguing or talking about it.
Marley sighed and shook her head but led Alice and Jasper to her room. She tossed her bags on the floor and smiled as Alice and Jasper set theirs down as well. "Did you guys want to sit? Stay for a bit?" she asked, excited at the prospect of Alice maybe being a new friend. Jasper seemed nice too, once she got a chance to get to know him a bit better.
Alice and Jasper exchanged a look and then shook their heads. "We're going to head home but I'll see you at school, Marley. Promise me that you'll wear something that I got you today when you go to school tomorrow," Alice said, moving closer to give Marley a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.
With a giggle, she nodded and walked them out. Her parents were in the living room, watching TV and not paying much attention to Marley at all. For a moment, her mother stopped her in the kitchen though. There was some talk about the 'strange girl' that Marley had come in with and all those bags that they'd brought in. Marley had blown it off with a shrug and telling her mom that it was nothing. The truth was that she didn't know how to explain what was going on. Everything was so crazy right now but her mom let it go and Marley grabbed the phone after filling the tea kettle with water and setting it on the stove to boil.
After a quick call to Kendra, she was getting two mugs together and she'd even cut two brownies for them. She wanted to show Kendra all the cool things that she'd gotten at the mall after all. Marley knew that if anyone would be able to appreciate it, it would be Kendra. In fact, she knew that her best friend was going to have a lot of questions on top of that although she had no idea how she was going to answer those questions. Marley didn't know what was going on with Emmett or what was going on with Alice. None of it made a lot of sense at this point actually. All that Marley knew was that something was going on and one day it was going to make sense to her.
Marley was all ready for her when Kendra walked into the kitchen. Her mother had let Kendra in as soon as she showed up and Kendra headed straight for the kitchen. It was amazing how well the girls knew each other. Marley was smiling and handed her best friend a mug of tea before sitting down for a moment in the kitchen. They'd head upstairs eventually and then Marley could show Kendra all the clothes and things that she'd gotten at the mall. She was nervous about that though. She didn't like the idea that Kendra might be upset by all the things she let Alice buy her or that she had spent all that time with Alice.
"I heard you left with a couple of the Cullens after school. What happened?" Kendra said as she sat down, taking a careful sip of her tea.
"Alice and her boyfriend took me to the mall. We went shopping," Marley said with a little shrug. She had to try not to laugh because Kendra jumped right in with the questions, of course. "Alice is a force of nature. You'd like her. She even wound up getting you a few things."
"She got you more than a few things. Didn't she?"
Marley sighed and nodded. She wasn't surprised that Kendra picked up on that or that she mentioned it. It made Marley nervous. She hoped that her best friend wouldn't be mad. "Yeah, a lot of stuff actually. I tried telling her no but she doesn't do well with no," she said, shaking her head. She took a sip of her tea, watching her friend carefully. "You're not mad or something. Are you?"
Kendra started to laugh, shaking her head, before she said anything. "No way. Why would I be mad?" she said, still laughing. She shifted to stand up, grabbing the plate with the brownies on it. Her mug was in her other hand so she nodded towards the stairs, grinning. "Are you going to show me what you got or what?"
Marley couldn't help but giggle at her best friend. She gave Kendra a quick hug and headed for the stairs. She took the lead, practically running to her room. She hadn't really taken a look at everything that Alice got for her. She was excited to take a look at everything with her best friend now that she knew Kendra was excited about this too. "You know if you see anything that you really like, you can have it, right?" she asked as she opened her bedroom door.
Kendra made a face and shook her head. "No, I won't. She got you that stuff for a reason. Besides if she got me anything, that's more than I could've expected," she said with a shrug. She put down the plate and turned on Marley's iPod. Then Kendra sat down on the bed, scooting back so she could stretch out her legs. She set her mug down on the nightstand and was grinning at her best friend, bouncing a little to the music.
"Come on," she said, nodding. "Let's see it all."
Marley was laughing as she set down her mug and started to go through the bags. She tossed one over to Kendra and then another. "Those are from Alice," she said with a nod. "Check it out. She seemed to think that you were going to love it. She wants us to have a sleepover some time, do makeovers and stuff like that."
Kendra had the biggest grin on her face, squealing in delight when she realized that Alice had gotten her things. She was pulling it out, looking at everything with this grin on her face. "I'm going to have to thank her for all of this. Oh god. I'm not going to be able to talk to her," she said, shaking her head. Alice was one of those people that Kendra naturally found intimidating. She couldn't explain why that was but it was how she felt anyway. There was no way that she was going to feel okay about talking to Alice. "You'll have to thank her for me. I mean, you two seem to get along really well. You thank Alice for me."
Marley laughed, shaking her head. She didn't understand how Kendra, or anyone else for that matter, could find Alice or Jasper or any of the Cullens intimidating. She had heard people saying it before but it didn't make sense to her now that she'd gotten to spend time with Alice and Jasper. "We'll both talk to Alice. Maybe at lunch or something," Marley said with a shrug. She was grinning right now, glad to see her friend so happy. "It'll be okay. I promise. Alice is super nice. So I take it you like what she got you? She wants us to do some kind of sleepover some time, makeovers and all that fun stuff."
Kendra giggled, nodding. Not that she could imagine what it would be like to stay at the Cullen's house. She'd seen it before, driving by the house once or twice, although she had no idea what it looked like on the inside. The idea of spending the night there seemed wild but Kendra was excited about it at the same time. She thought it would be fun, something that she and Marley could do together. She loved the idea of being a part of whatever was happening right now for Marley. "I think that could be fun. Makeovers and trying on clothes, things that we used to do all of the time. We should do it."
Marley was so happy right now. She didn't think that Kendra would take any of this very well. She thought that Kendra would feel like Alice was trying to take her away or something. The truth was that Marley knew that wasn't what was happening. She knew that Alice just wanted to be her friend, that she'd want to be friends with Kendra too. It was amazing that Kendra seemed to want to get to know Alice as well. "We can talk to Alice about it after you thank her for the gifts," Marley said with a nod. "She was really amazing. She was like a force of nature though. You can't say no to her."
Kendra laughed, giving Marley a look. "I know what that's like. You can be a force of nature some of the time too," she said with a laugh. "So what about Emmett?" She was holding up a top that Alice picked out for her, checking it out. It was amazing and so expensive. Kendra didn't know how she was going to thank Alice for something like this. She looked up at her best friend, folding up the top as she watched Marley. "Did she say anything about the way that he's been acting?"
Marley shook her head, looking away from Kendra. This was a subject that she didn't want to discuss. It made no sense to her to talk about Emmett because it wasn't like Emmett wanted her in the first place. He'd finally figured out what Marley knew all along. She wasn't good enough for him. At least Alice was being nice to her though. At least Marley had that much, although she didn't know why Alice was trying to be her friend. That made even less sense.
"Can we talk about something else? I don't want to talk about Emmett right now," she said, shaking her head. Marley was starting to unpack the bags and bags of things that she'd come home with. She was even laying out an outfit for the next day. There were so many amazing things, however, that she wasn't sure she'd be able to narrow it down to one choice. "You know, I bet Alice feels like this every day. I bet she looks at her closet and doesn't know what to wear. I can't believe that I'm going to have the same kind of troubles now that Alice got me all of this."
Marley and Kendra were soon giggling about the clothes and Alice and boys. The subject of Emmett wasn't brought up again although Kendra did hint at it and Marley seemed okay about that. It was fun and they took turns trying things on. Marley gave Kendra a couple of the things that Alice bought for her since she knew that she'd never wear them but that her best friend would. It was fun and for awhile, Marley felt like things were looking up again.
She knew that going back to school wasn't going to be so hard. Maybe facing Emmett wouldn't be that hard either. It wasn't like she had to talk to him after all. If he was going to ignore her, she was going to ignore him too. She didn't need Emmett after all. If he didn't want her, she didn't want him. If he didn't need her, she didn't need him. That was all that there was to it.