Here's the next chappterr :D. And, no, Bella does not know Edward and Alice are related, so when she shouted she was happy she wouldn't see him for the weekend, boy was she wrong xD.

Disclaimer: I don't own twilight, new moon, eclipse, breaking dawn (not that I would want to; personally speaking, that was the worst book out of the whole series), etc.

Chapter Fourteen

Ida Maria: I Like You So Much Better When You're naked

Bella POV

The clock seemed to tick slower than usual, or maybe because I was diligently at it, waiting for Charlie to come home. On the other hand, I was debating with myself: Should I go to Alice's house, or just stay here? I mean, I felt I should go, but then again, I felt that I shouldn't. Like something bad was going to happen if I did go. I peered at the clock from over my shoulder. 5:45.

"Stupid clock, go faster!" I said out loud, grabbing the bowl of meat sauce out of the microwave and started to stir the hot liquid quickly. Some of the sauce splashed onto my arm, making it burn horribly.

"Ouchie," I murmured, running cool water over it. I glanced over my shoulder again at the clock. 5:46. Irritated, I nearly broke all the rippled sheets of pasta, but managed to spread all the cheese, sauce, and other lasagna necessities without breaking something.

After I finished putting it in the oven carefully, so I wouldn't get burned again, I turned and looked the clock on the wall. 6:00. YES! Half an hour till Charlie got home, then I could ask. The lasagna wasn't going to be ready in the next ten minutes or anything, so I took short, tiny strides up the stairs, wasting time. I opened my closet, staring at my small selection of winter clothes. There was a small duffel bag in the corner of the closet, along with the stuff I had shoved in there. I stared at the gifts, out stretched my hand to grab them, but instead reached for the bag and picked out a change of clothes, underwear, and everything else. My toothbrush and towels were still in the bathroom from the morning rush, so I hadn't had time to put them away, but it was okay. There was a soft beep from the driveway and the front door opened. Shoot; the lasagna was probably ready to be taken out oven.

"Bells? You here?" Charlie called out. I could hear him hanging his belt up on the coat stand by the door.

"Yeah! Just... a second!" I kicked off the tangled sheet from my bed, left the duffel on the bed, and hopped down the stairs two at a time. I was proud that I hadn't tripped; good job, me!

"What are you cooking? It smells... burnt." Charlie glanced at the oven as I raced towards it, yanking it open. Steam hissed out of the oven as I got out the black stuff that was dinner.

"Sorry..." I mumbled guiltily, shutting the oven door.

"It's fine. I can make something else, like bacon and eggs?" Charlie offered helpfully. I could feel the panic rising in my throat.

"No! I mean, no. That's alright. I'm sure there's something else... oh, how about pasta? There's some left over sauce."

"Sure, that's fine, too."

"Okay, it'll take a few minutes."

Charlie stayed a couple minutes more, then left towards the television. The ESPN announcer rambled off about how some basketball team was losing to the undefeated champs; I couldn't hear anything else except that. When I looked at the clock, I was surprised and filled with giddy excitement to see that it was six thirty.

"Dad, dinner's ready." (haha, sorry for not really saying anything about cooking it; she just magically conjured it up, I guess.) I grabbed two bowls and forks from the cub board and drawer, spooned some of the spaghetti into both bowls.

"Smells good. Better than burnt noodles, for sure." Charlie laughed lightly. I let it slid, since I was about to ask to go over to someone's house.

"Dad," I started when I sat down and swirled some of the spaghetti around my fork. "My friend, Alice, is picking me up in about half an hour, to spend the night at her house... if that's okay?"
"Sure, sure. I'm going fishing tomorrow with Harry tomorrow; it's not suppose to be pouring."
"Great. You'll be okay for food?"

"Bells, I've been feeding seventeen years, I'll be okay."

I glanced doubtfully at him, but shrugged. "There should be some leftover spaghetti, so lunch and maybe dinner is covered, if you wanna eat it for both."
"Bella, don't worry. Now, go get ready; I don't want you to be late because you're talking to your old dad."

I grinned at him, ate the rest of the pasta really fast, then rushed up stairs. I had barely finished packing and walked down the stairs when there was a series of quick, rhythmic beeping.

"Dang, on the dot of seven, too." Charlie said out loud.

"Bye, Dad! Love you!" I shouted as I ran out of the house, locked the door with the spar key that was located in the eaves by the front door, and rushed towards... whoa, Alice's Porsche?! When she dropped me off at my house earlier, she had been riding in a car similar to Edward's, but I guess it was a trend. (answer your question[one of them at least haha], Veggiegirl5?)I tripped, but caught myself, as I stared at the brilliant yellow car.

"Well, don't stand there like an idiot, jump in!" Alice called from behind the tinted windows. Numbly, I walked awed towards her car.

"You have a nice car." Was all I managed to say when I was strapped in before Alice peeled away from the curb and sped down the street, like a maniac. The only person who'd I been in a car with that drove sort of like this was... Edward. Really, I felt horrible that I had acted like such a huge brat towards him, but if he had done that just to get a reaction from me, couldn't he have scared me instead? "Alice, slow down! You're going to crash!"
"Oh, no I'm not," Alice laughed. The sound was like wind chimes; a pleasant, soft sound.

"Yes you are! What if I car comes out of nowhere?"
"Bella, I'm a great driver, don't worry." She took a sharp left, which lead onto a half paved half unpaved road that looked like it was going to nowhere.

"Um... the forest?" I glanced nervously around.

"Don't worry; it's not that long of a way."

*We passed over the bridge at the Calawah River, the road winding northward, the houses flashing past us growing farther apart, getting bigger. And then we were past the other houses altogether, driving through misty forest. I was trying to decide whether to ask or be patient, when she( originally 'he') turned abruptly onto an unpaved road. It was unmarked, barely visible among the ferns. The forest encroached on both sides, leaving the road ahead only discernible for a few meters as it twisted, serpentlike, around the ancient trees.

And then, after a few miles, there was some thinning of the woods, and we were suddenly in a small meadow, or was it actually a lawn? The gloom of the forest didn't relent, though, for there were six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. The trees held their protecting shadow right up to the walls of the house that rose among the, making obsolete the deep porch that wrapped around the first story.

I don't know what I had expected, but it definitely wasn't this. The house was timeless, graceful, and probably a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white, three stories tall, rectangular, and well proportioned, The windows and doors were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration.* Over all, the house was a huge, sprawling, beautiful mansion.

"Whoa. This is your house?" I asked, awed struck again.

"Yup. Like it? I think mom has to get a new window that looks over the backyard, though .... Emmett cracked it last time he came over ." Alice made a tiny face, but hopped out of her car and shut the door daintily.

"It looks alright to me," I offered. I copied her motion of shutting the door lightly, but stumbled on my way out and she caught me with surprising strength.

"Watch your step; there's a lot of loose rocks around," Alice warned me. "I don't want you to trip and bust open your forehead."
"Oh, thanks." I mumbled embarrassed and tugged along the duffel. "Aren't you going to park your car in the garage?"
"Nah; my dad will. He's freaked out that I might get a little too excited while parking and dent the car a bit." She smiled sheepishly and that meant one thing: she had done it before.

"You've done that??"

"Well... maybe once... or twice... BUT! They were all on accident!" Alice wiggled her pale finger at me. "But, I'm a safe driver, so don't you worry your little pretty head about it."

"Okay."

Alice smiled excitedly at me as she turned the key in the lock and pushed open the door, making my jaw drop, yet again. *The inside was even more surprising, less predictable, than the exterior. It was very bright, very open, and very large. This must have been originally several rooms, but the walls had been removed from the most of the first floor to create one wide space. The back, south-facing wall had been entirely replaced with glass, and, beyond the shade of the cedars, the lawn stretched bare to the wide river. A massive curving staircase dominated the west side of the room. The walls, the high-beamed ceiling, the wooden floor, and the thick carpets were all varying shades of white.* And just to the left of the door, on a raised portion of the floor, was a spectacular grand piano. It was beautiful. Well, basically everything seemed beautiful in this house.

"Like it?" Alice asked, tugging me forward with seemingly impatience tugs. "Are you hungry? Wait, you just ate didn't you? If you're hungry, I can get you some food to eat. So, are you?"
"Alice! Enough with the Twenty Questions!" I laughed, letting her tug me towards the large open doorway that led into the beautiful kitchen. It was wide, spacious, gorgeous, and a blinding white color. The floor was a shinning, polished wood color. The cabinets were all each intricately carved, with polished brass handles. Little lights seemed to pop out from everywhere, behind the fragile china plates and ancient-looking teacups to upward where little round circles dotted the ceiling with shiny bulbs. There was a table in the middle of the room, with four, tall, metal bar chairs on each side.

"I gotta help design this," Alice stated proudly, leaving me in the doorway and walking towards the fridge that was see through one the right side, but non- see through on the left. "My dad didn't want to buy this fridge, but my mom and I begged and begged until he said okay. It's pretty, huh?"

"Very," I said, walking towards the high table and sat down on one of the chairs.

"Want something to drink?" Alice's back was turned when a large, fluffy raccoon scurried onto the kitchen and jumped onto the table, sitting directly across from me.

"A-Alice..." I stuttered, watching the paused raccoon carefully. "There's a raccoon in here..."

Alice spun around quickly and laughed, walking towards the creature and cradled it carefully in her arms. It made a soft purring sound and burrowed itself deeper in Alice's arms.

"This is Ophelia, my pet raccoon. She's cute, huh? She's only a year old." She petted the raccoon carefully, making sure not to pet it in a way that would result in Alice getting bitten by the raccoon.

"Pet raccoon?" I asked, widening my eyes. The raccoon, Ophelia, poked her head out from Alice's arms and jumped towards the table again, this time coming closer to me and sniffing the air. "How'd you get a pet raccoon?"

"Well, we rescued her because her mom died and Ophelia was barely a month old and living in the forest, so we had to tell the animal center, of course, that we were going to be caring for a little raccoon. Originally, we were suppose to give her back at seven months old to the animal center, but I don't know, I think I fell in love with her, and I kept her." Alice finished with a caring smile. "You can pet her, you know. She doesn't bite."

"No thanks."
"Realllyyyyyyyy? She won't chomp your finger."

I outstretched my hand and jerked it back when Ophelia raised herself on her hind legs and sniffed the air again.

"Bella, I promise you she will not take off a finger... or your whole hand. Plus, she doesn't even have diseases; we get her vaccinated regularly."

"How often is 'regularly'?" I gave her a skeptic look.

"Every two to four months; it depends on whenever our vet says to."

"Okay..." I got a deep breath and stretched out my hand again, flinching when Ophelia got closer. Finally, she ran the short distance towards my hand, with my palm facing downward, and stuck her head underneath my hand. The fur was long and soft.

"See? We have another pet... but I don't see him..." Alice glanced underneath the table, looked over her shoulder, and walked towards the doors that led out into their patio. "Hmm... maybe he's outside in his house."

"Is it another raccoon...?" I asked, letting Ophelia climb onto my lap and settle there.

"Oh, no. My mom thought one was enough, so we got something equally great! But my brother," She scrunched up her nose. "Always says his pet is better."
"You have a brother?" Oh great. Just what I needed; to stay in a house with another non-relative, non-friend boy.

"Yup. You know him." She smiled suddenly, snapping her fingers in three quick snaps. Ophelia jumped from my lap and dashed quickly out of sight. "I know what we can do!"

"What?" I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it.

"But first, did you bring a bathing suit?"

I was right. "No..."

"Great! We'll have to go shopping then tomorrow! But not for long... because then we wouldn't make it in time... shoot..." Alice muttered quietly to herself a bit more then snapped her head in my direction, a smile spreading across her face. "Come on; it's hardly 7:30, so that means we'll have just enough time to get there, get what we need, and get out if I drive fast enough... or maybe he could drive... No, I doubt he would even want to come anyway. Okay, grab your stuff and let's go!" Alice was nearly already out the door by the time I got off the high chair. I struggled to keep up with her as I concentrated on not falling flat on my face while I ran down the steep stairs. Alice kept honking her horn until a window was open and someone shouted out angrily.

"ALICE! Stop freaking honking your damn horn! Some of us are trying to sleep!" I nearly tripped from shock when I heard that voice. It was musical, rich, velvety... I shook my head. No, impossible. Even if Edward did hang out with Alice, that didn't mean they were related... right? Jasper's voice, along with Emmett's, was musical-like, too, and so was Alice's. I'm fairly sure Rosalie's voice was, too... even if she was mostly snapping at Edward the whole time that I was sitting there. But, Alice and Edward had the same eyes with the same skin tone, same dark circles underneath their eyes... They also didn't have the same hair color, the same height, the same interests... And to help support the idea that they weren't related, just friends, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie had the same golden eyes, pale skin, dark circles...

"Bella! Hurry up!" Alice shouted, keeping her hand on the horn.

"Alice, I'm going to disable that horn!" The same person shouted. It could be Alice's dad... his voice was equally appealing as Alice's. No, they weren't related I decided. But... was Alice's dad mean, even abusive, towards Alice, judging from the way he talked to her just right now? Probably not... maybe annoyed...

"Bella, hurry!" Alice shouted again.

"Oh. Sorry!" I darted quickly towards Alice's car, opened the door delicately, and stepped in. The door closed itself when Alice stepped onto the gas pedal.

"Okay, hurry up and put on your seatbelt. We don't have a lot of time left." Alice instructed, pausing briefly at a Stop sign, then accelerating down the street, veering left.

"I feel like we're driving so fast, that we're going to fly off the road," I said, hoping to make my hint that I did not like driving fast. "That, or we could hit a squirrel, or dog..."
"There's no one around and there's no squirrels, dogs, birds, etc, around here, is there?"
"No..."
"So, were okay. Don't worry."

"Okay. Wait, where are we going?"
"To my favorite place in the world... well, besides Jasper's house... the mall!"

"But why are we going there?"

"To get you and me a bathing suit, obviously."

"There's two things wrong with that sentence. One: I hate shopping. Two: I didn't bring any money. "

"That's fine; I was going to pay for it anyway."
"But, I'll pay you back."
"No. This is one of the many gifts I'm going to give you."

"But-"
"No 'buts'. Just sit back, relax, and wait till we get there."

I stared out the window and was not-so-startled to see buildings and trees blurring together quickly.

"Why do we need bathing suits? It's so cold to go swimming," I tried yet again to make her understand that I didn't want to go to the mall.

"Bella, Bella. Just because it's cold doesn't mean you can't go swimming!" Alice laughed. I didn't like her laugh; it sounded like she was hiding something.

"What does that mean?" I listened carefully to her tone of voice.

"You'll find out... But first, answer this question, please. Today or tomorrow?"

"For what?"
"Just pick one. Or how about one or two, then?"
"Why?"

"Okay. Then, yes or no."
"Why so?"
"Are you rhyming?"
"No..."
Alice laughed again, pushing her Porsche faster. "So answer three or the three. Today or tomorrow? One or two? And yes or no?"
"Fine. Tomorrow. Two. No."

"Aw, but I suppose you're right. Jasper went to go visit his cousins back in Texas for today and tomorrow, but he'll be back around this time tomorrow. And Emmett's busy fixing his jeep... since he sort of dented the bumper racing Tyler."

"Talk about intense driving."

Alice smiled and nodded her head in agreement. "We're heeere!"

I glanced out the window and groaned loudly. We were. "Alice... I think I feel sick..."

"Oh really? That sucks. Let's go." She was out of the car in a split second, already tapping her foot impatiently as I got out as slowly as I could manage. Sighing loudly, she clamped her hand around my arm and towed me forward.

"I didn't close the door!" I protested, struggling against this death trap Alice had me in.

"Okay." She released me, sprinted towards her car in quick strides, slammed the door shut, and raced back. Alice fished out her car keys from her outrageously large hand bag (that was maybe as tall as her... no I'm just kidding.) and pushed the lock button, which made the car go beep beep. "And I even locked it. So no more excuses. We're way behind my schedule."
"Schedule? Couldn't we go tomorrow..."

"We're already here. Besides, I gotta hurry and get to the butcher."

"Oh my god. The butcher?? What do you need from there??"

"Don't worry. It's just food."

"Oh. Okay. Oops, sorry."
"It's fine, but just hurry up."

Alice managed to pull me, and her enormous bag, towards the mall in less than five minutes, despite where we were parked.

"Okay, here's the plan; spread out and conquer." Alice said in the deepest voice she could manage. I broke out in a smile and laughed a little.

"I haven't been here before... though..." I said in a tiny voice.

"What?!" Alice attracted attention within a fifty feet radius. "You what? You haven't? Oh geez! Okay, okay we can do this. We'll just go to this one little shop..." She rushed towards the escalators. I followed her as quickly as I could manage, though slammed my shin on the step.

"Ow. Dumb technology; it's evil." I whined as I rubbed my soon-to-be hugely bruised tibia.

"That's gotta hurt," Alice laughed lightly.

"Yes, yes it does. Didn't you hear that huge dunk, or better yet, didn't you feel the dumb escalators shake?"

"Yeah I did; it was the aftershock of the 1906 San Fransisco earthquake."

"Oh, you're just a big bundle of smart remarks, huh?"

"Obviously."

I let my face crack into a smile.

To put it into simple terms, shopping with Alice was sort of... scary. When we finally stepped into the shop she had said we were going to, she was just a blur of black and white, waltzing across the floor in quick, graceful steps. She threw many bathing suits at me, ordering me to hurry up and try them on.

"Bella, do you like any of them?" Alice pounded fiercely onto the dressing room door.

"I don't know, Alice..." I tugged down the top of the bathing suit as far as it would go, and that wasn't very far.

"Okay, well, out of all of the bathing suits I gave you, which do you like the most?"
"None..."

"Bella," Alice's tone was sharp. Like a mother's voice when she was scolding her misbehaving, or in our cause, stubborn daughter. "You're going to pick one, or how many you like, whether we stay here all night. And I don't know about you, but sleeping on top of clothes doesn't seem like the ideal place of sleeping to me."

"Fine." I sighed and took of the bathing suit. "I guess I'll choose this one..." I held up the blue bathing suit with the exposed V-neck plunge and a scrunched up design. It tied in the back, there was a little piece of the same string that held it together between the top part of the bathing suit, and had the Billabong trademark in the upper left hand corner in white. The bottom part of the bathing suit had the same scrunched up pattern, fringed almost I suppose. On the side of the bottom part, strings with little silver orbs dangling on each side in a pair. I almost let a whine escape my lips; this was the bathing suit that covered up the most; all the other either left half a butt cheek hanging out, or nearly a full boob out in the open (not really, of course. I was just not in the mood to be shopping to make positive commentary).

"Well, let me see! Wait, actually give me a few seconds. I'm going to try on this other bathing suit."

"Okay. I'm just putting my clothes on."

I was purposefully being slow, untying the knot I had made in the back with slow, sluggish fingers, then slipped off the bottom part with equally slow movements. I slipped back into my clothes, wiggling on my hoodie, nearly suffocating myself on accident since I didn't take it off until I was gasping for breath.

"Are you done?" Alice asked. I walked backwards slowly, seeing the shadows of her feet pacing back and forth, back and forth.

"Yup. Just needa put on my socks," I answered back then grinned. "And my shoes... then I gotta fix my hoodie so it fits nicely and then..."

"Bella!" Alice's voice hit the perfect pitch of a whine. "Well, fine. The store's closing in 10 minutes anywayy."

"What?!" I dashed towards the door, almost forgetting the balled up bathing suit in my haste. I threw open the door and nearly slammed into Alice.

"Well well well, look who's moving at a faster speed now." Alice smiled and skipped towards the register, whistling cheerfully. I noticed, as I didn't make the effort to follow her happy trail, that she had two bathing suits in her pale arms; a red and black one, obviously to big for her tiny, petite frame and another one, a orange one that suited her better.

"Alice, why are you getting a bathing suit that's too big for you?" I questioned, pointing towards the red and black bikini.

"Oh. Well... no reason." Alice said and turned around to face the cashier.

"Heeello, Miss Cullen. Find everything alright?" The overly cheerful cashier asked.

"As always, Amy." Alice responded in the same tone. "Bella, this is Amy. Amy, this is my friend, Bella."

"Hi, Bella. Oo, nice bikini you have there. That color compliments your skin lovely." Amy smiled at me, taking the blue bathing suit from my arms and ringing it up along with the other bathing suits.

"Isn't she so nice?" Alice whispered to me as Amy pressed a few more buttons on the cash register. I nodded my head in agreement, fearing the total price.

"Okay, your total comes up to... One hundred and forty-two and thirty-five cents." Amy said, clicking a few other buttons. (haha I did the math actually for that xD)

I think my eyes popped out by the expression Alice gave me.

"Bella, are you okay?" She asked, gripping my arm as if I was going to pass out.

"That's... that's a lot of money..." I managed to choke out, staring at the bright green numbers.

"Pft, you should see her when she's on a longer shopping trip," Amy mused, accepting the credit card and license Alice handed her.

"I think I'd pass out from so many numbers," I answered meekly.

"Thanks! And don't forget to come next week; our new new arrival of summer clothes are being shipped." Amy smiled and waved as we left the store.

"Yesss. I've been waiting for that." Alice said. The mall's lights started to flash off, one by one. "Oh, whoops! I think we should go now." I was already half way down the escalator when she said that.

"The mall feels creepy at night... I don't like it." I said, glancing around. There were hardly any people around, maybe clustered in groups of two or three occasionally.

"You get used to it, don't worry. The mannequins won't come out and snap at your heels or something." Alice opened the bag and glanced inside, her eyes widening suddenly. "We forgot something!"

She was about to turn around and run up the moving down escalators when I grasped my hand around her arm and pulled with all my might.

"No, Bella! No! We have to go back! We have to!" Alice wailed loudly, thrashing against my grasp.

"We can always come back tomorrow! Plus, we have to get back to your house; it's almost eight, and it takes an hour or so to get back to Forks, right? Your parents are going to get worried." I tried compromising with her.

"But!"

"Buttttt nuuuhhh-oohhh."

"Fine."

"What was it that you forgot?"
"Glasses..."

"Glasses as in your already had or you were going to buy?"
"Buy! They were the last pair! They were these Dolce&Gabbana glasses with leather in the middle and they were brown with-!"

"Alice! Calm down! We can come back tomorrow."

"Okay." Alice sniffled like a three-year-old. "We can come back tomorrow. But, let's hurry up and get home; I agree with you now, staying at the mall when it's about to close feels weird." She hopped off the escalator, landing without even a 'dunk'. I waited patiently until the step I was on reached the floor, then stepped outward with my leg outstretched.

"I hope no one scratched my car," Alice said worriedly while we power walked out of the mall and towards her car.

"I don't think anyone in their right mind would scratch your car... they'd take it." I bit my lip from smiling at her anxious expression.

"That isn't funny, Bella."

"Cracking jokes about my clumsiness isn't so funny either, ya know."

"Hey hey hey, I don't set myself up."

"Me either! It's just... bad genes."

"Mhm." She unlocked her car when we were close enough. "Get in; we gotta hurry up, again."

"Okie dokay."

I saw her circle around her car twice, inspecting what seemed every square inch of the glossy, yellow paint on her car. When she was satisfied, I guess, she climbed into her car and started it, glancing over her shoulder twice before backing out.

"That was fun, huh?" Alice commented as she signaled to get on to the freeway back to Forks.

"Sure it was. Swim suits thrown at you, being rushed, almost breaking a leg, fun!" I said sarcastically, leaning my head against the leather interior.

"You're tired?"

"Sort of, yah."

"You can fall asleep, if you want."
"But, I'd feel bad because I wouldn't be talking to you."

"It's fine."
"You sure?"

"Yeah. It won't be that long of a drive, anyway. So go ahead."

"Okay."

I titled my head to the right, watched the blurring figures speed by for a little, then gradually fell into a small nap.

When someone woke me up in what seemed forty minutes later, I didn't want to get up from the soft, comfortable chair.

"Bella, we're here." Someone poked my shoulder lightly.

"Nuh oh," I sighed, rolling my head to the other side.

"Am I going to have to call someone to carry you in?"

"Hmm?"
"We could always get your brother." This was a different voice, but still feminine.

"We could, huh?"Alice agreed silently. "Bella, we're going to go get him if you don't come out."

"Fuhine..." I turned my head slowly towards Alice, squinting my eyes. "Why is it so dark?"

"Because it's night time."

"Oooh. Okay. Lemme get up." I closed my eyes momentarily, sighed, and unbuckled the seat beat while trying to stagger to my feet. "Ughh, I feel like a pregnant woman, trying to get up."

Alice and the other girl laughed. I grunted, then pushed off the chair with my back.

"I feel so tired." I protested. "Can't I just sleep here?"
"You're neck will get stiffer." Alice said.

"Oh. Right." I hadn't noticed the throbbing pain in the pain of my neck until Alice had mentioned it.

"Need help?"

"No, no. I'm fine. I just gotta..." I grabbed the door and waddled out of the car, dragging my feet with evident tiredness.

"Good job!" The girl whose voice I still hadn't managed to place said.

"Wah-la! I'm magician!" I said and started moving lazily across the driveway. "Alice, where's the door?"

I had completely forgot.

"Oh, hold on! I just have to get our bags and then we'll be right there." Ah-ha! So I wasn't going crazy! There was another voice, but whose?

"You guys went shopping?" Unnamed asked.

"Yeah; bathing suits." I could her the secret smile in her voice.

"Ooo! Is it...?" They let the question hang in the air. I was getting frustrated, since I didn't know what we were doing tomorrow, though I knew it involved water... I hope..., and also because who was this random person?

"Okay. We're coming, Bella." A few seconds later, Alice and the other girl appeared on either side of me. Alice swung the bag up and down while whistling tunelessly. I glanced at the side Alice wasn't on... and recognized the gorgeous blond from earlier: Rosalie.

"Oh, hi, Rosalie." I answered, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

"Hi, Bella." She smiled down friendly enough at me. "Call me Rose; my mom only uses Rosalie when she's angry at me."

"Okay."

Alice and Rosalie chattered between something I wasn't familiar, asking my opinion on who was right occasionally, but I answered careful enough, like I really did know what they were talking about.

"I just gotta put these bags away in my room and Rosalie has to put her stuff away. So, feel free to roam or whatever." Alice answered and bounded up the stairs with Rosalie trailing behind her.

"Lovely. In this huge house, I'm going to get lost," I grumbled to myself and collapsed onto the couch. I was busy counting the number of stitches on the couch when I heard soft 'thunk'ing coming down the stairs.

"Alice, where's the bathroom?" I asked, getting up and turning around... then gasping out loud and felt my face burning. Edward was shimmering with little droplets of water on his pale, perfect, chiseled chest, bronze tousled hair darkened and damp from a shower. All he had on was a white towel wrapped sloppily around his waist, which was sagging dangerously low. I swallowed slowly.

"Hey, mom where's the," Edward stopped his question and grinned at me. "Well well well. Look who we have here." Edward took a step towards the couch.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes.

"Me? I live here, obviously." He waved his hand at his body... and my eyes followed.

"Oh. Right..."

"Yeah. What are you doing here?" He walked over and sat down on the other end of the couch, waiting for an explanation.

"Because Alice invited me."

"Oh yeah. In the lunch room, right? Before you said you were glad you wouldn't see me for the weekend? Funny how fate works out, hm?" Edward smiled smugly again, putting his hands behind his head.

"Edward! Put some clothes on!" Alice shouted, throwing something black at Edward's head. It made a loud DUNK as it collided with his head. "And don't leave the stupid shower all steamy!"

"Fuck," Edward groaned loudly, rubbing the back of his head. "You're dead, Alice! Come here!" Edward clutched his towel in one hand and dove around the couch quickly, outstretching his other hand to claw out at Alice. Alice let out a shrill scream and ran up the stairs, scrambling out of site quickly.

"Those two..." Rose shook her head. "Are always fighting. Jasper and I don't do that."
"They're siblings?" I asked, stunned. Edward had mentioned this, hadn't he? I raked my brain for the smallest of clues, from either of them, but no, they hadn't. Geez, I should have listened to my intuition from earlier.

"Yes. Didn't you know?" Rose shot me a look that said 'duh, stupid'.

"Obviously not. I mean, I guess I should have noticed, but..."

"There's not really much to compare?"
"Right."

"I know what you mean."

From upstairs, Alice screamed out again as something crashed against the wall and something, or maybe someone, fell against the floor.

"Edward! I will make Ophelia bite you!" Alice screamed. Even from down her, it was very clear.

"So! Hamlet will freaking take off your dumb raccoon's head!" Was Edward's reply. Hamlet?

"Alice! Edward! Stop it this instant!" A motherly voice commanded, coming from the kitchen. A second later, a annoyed, but beautiful, woman stepped out. She was pale, like Alice and Edward, with the same dark circles underneath the ocher eyes. Her caramel hair was curled softly against her face.

"Those two..." She said then turned towards us, smiling brightly. "Hello, Rose. Nice to see you again. And who's this?"
"She's Bella!" Alice shouted from upstairs.

"Ah. That's a lovely name. I'm Esme, Edward and Alice's mom. Nice to meet you." She strode forward and shook my hand gently. I nearly jerked my hand back, but restrained myself from doing so; her hand felt amazingly, deathly cold. ( hmmmm...)
"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cullen." I faintly remembered Jessica saying Alice's last name was Cullen.
"Oh, no! Call me Esme. Mrs. Cullen makes me feel old." She made a face and laughed. "Well, I'd better go separate them before they break another lamp..."

I waited patiently with Rosalie until Alice came back down, smoothing down her messed up hair.
"What a big fart." Alice muttered. Rosalie and I started laughing at Alice's moody statement.
"If you hadn't nearly killed him, I don't think he would have chased you around in a towel." Rosalie commented in an obvious tone.
"Well, if he wasn't half naked in front of my guests we couldn't have this problem. Right, Edward?" Alice shouted the last part.
"Yeah. But I bet she liked it!" Edward laughed down, poking his head sideways from the stairs.
My cheeks flamed red as I ducked my head and let my hair form a curtain around my face.
"Are you guys hungry?" Alice asked. "I don't want you to go hungry and complain."
"Oh, no. I'm fine. How about you, Bella?" Rosalie asked.
"I'm okay, too. I'm still full from dinner with Charlie."
"Geez. You guys never eat. Are you afraid I poisoned the food or something?"
"Well, you never eat, either." I pointed out.
"Yes I do."
"I never see you."
"'Cause I'm ninja like that." Alice grinned. "We should start going to sleep, huh?"
"It's hardly ten!" Rosalie protested. Alice shot her a warning look.
"Yes, but we have plans for tomorrow." Alice emphasized the whole sentence slowly, looking at Rosalie.
"Oh! Riiiight." Rosalie agreed, nodding her head. "Plans. Gotcha."
"Could you be any more obvious?"
"Sure I could."
"Scratch that I even said that. Come on; follow mee!"

Alice's room was pretty. It was large and spacious, with splashes of pale blue on the walls, two rectangular windows on either side of her bed with two lamps on black stands. There were six, small paintings above her bed, though they were the same three designs, with a silver leaf-looking in the center. The bed was light brown and the same blue with stripes of dark brown and light brown streaking across from a corner. The carpet was a thick, sand-ish brown.

"Wow, nice room." I said, letting my shoes sink into the carpet.
"Thanks. We just redecorated it." Alice smiled and went over to the overly sized closet and pulled it open, revealing rows and rows of bright colored clothes. I walked over to it, awed again, and saw that it was much taller that I looked like and had one of those ladders, that you only saw in libraries with mile long bookcases, placed neatly against the back shelf.
"Wow, did you get another level or something?" Rosalie asked, poking her head inside the closet.
"Of course not..."
"Alice, we all know here your addiction. Bella, I think you got a tiny glimpse of that tonight. And trust me, it's so much worser."
"Lovely." I walked over to Alice's bed and sat down, then laid down. The blanket and mattress felt like it was devouring me, as if I were at a pool or beach instead of a bed. "Geez! Don't you like... get sucked in when you sleep?"
"Sort of. I mean, after a while, you discover how to tread mattress."
I grinned at her and got up.
"Is it fine if I go to the bathroom and get ready for sleep?" I asked, pushing off from the bed.
"Sure. The bathroom is the second door on the right. Or, it's the door next to the room with the loud music."
"Okay doke. Wait, where's my stuff?"
"Oh, yeeah. Right here," She handed me the duffel I had brought in today. "There ya go."
"Thanks."

I felt like I was following the yellow brick road, or more like the-road-of-many-rapping-voices. I scrunched up my nose at the awful sound; wow, nowadays, you could just "rhyme" horribly and put a few beats into the background and boom! You're the next big hit. When I got farther down the hallway, the white door was literally shaking from the bass. Just for the kicks of it, I put my ear against the thudding door and listened quietly to catch some of the lyrics.

… Ima take you there, Ima take you there...
… don't be scared...right here... baby...
… but first take my hand...
… it's like I waited my whole life...
… for this one night...

Okay, so maybe you could be the next big hit if you made your rhymes sound smooth and flowed nicely. And this was pretty good. I listened more until I heard the music stop and it changed, erupting in a male vocalist screaming loudly into the microphone.

"Sheesh," I muttered, rubbing my ear. The bathroom, like Alice had said, was the next one to the shuddering door. I opened it and saw the lavishly furnished counter with white, C-marked towels rested on each side of the mirror and sparkling porcelain sink. The counter was shiny granite, and glossy almost. There were two showers, I think, because one of the screen doors for one of the possible showers was foggy and cloudy, while the other one, to the right of the cloudy one, was clear and plain, but pretty. The overall outcome of the whole bathroom looked like something along the lines of the Hampton Inn bathrooms. I walked quickly over the smooth, black floor towards the sink. I got out my toothbrush and toothpaste, applying it slowly onto the toothbrush and raising it towards my mouth and started scrubbing. While I brushed my teeth thoroughly, I thought about today. It was Friday, the best day of the week, right? No school for two days, hanging out with friends... learning that your friend's brother was your possible-almost crush... Oh, wasn't that a surprise? The way the droplets of water slid down his chest, and the way his hair was darkened deeply by the water made him seem every bit more... more... desirable? Beautiful? Wanted? None of those words really seemed to describe it, but I knew one thing for sure; Edward was an even bigger sight with hardly a towel on, than with his usual attire. I felt my face turned slightly pink at the thought, my hands growing sweaty. Toothpaste dribbled down my chin, and I lifted to wipe it off when someone knocked.
"Yes?" I said automatically, lowering the toothbrush and turning towards the door.
"Bella? Where do you want to sleep? We can sleep in the living room if you want. Unless you want to sleep in my room?" Alice asked from behind the door.
"Uh... wherever you want to."
"Rose and I can't decide, that's why we're letting you decide."
"Oh. Um, downstairs then I guess. Wait, I didn't bring a sleeping bag." Shoot.
She laughed. "It's fine. We have a lot of those, so it's not a bother. What color sleeping bag do you want?"
"Hmmm... blue is okay, I guess."
"'Kay. Come downstairs when you've finished."
"Got it."

I cupped my hand underneath the flowing water and lifted the water towards my mouth, then swished the water around. Then I spat it out, dried my mouth on towel around set down on the counter by the sink, and rinsed my toothbrush. I quickly undressed and put on my pajamas, then folded my clothes and put them in the duffel bag. Then, for some odd reason, I sat down on the toilet and rested my elbows on my knees, sighing silently.
I should have listened to my gut I thought unhappily to myself. Yes, I was having a good time, but I didn't really want to see Edward because... I just didn't. I raised myself from the toilet and padded across the floor, opened the door, and walked almost awkwardly towards Alice's room to put my stuff in there. When I passed by the door, it was silent, but there was a faint sound in the back. I resisted the urge to eavesdrop again.
"Belllaa! Do you want popcorn?" Rosalie's voice popped out from behind me. I let out a startled yelp and turned around. "Oops. Sorry."
"It's okay. And I don't know. Sure I guess?" I answered uncertainly, following her down the large, spiraling staircase.
"Goodie! Now we don't have to get icky gummi worms."
"Aw, I like gummi worms."
"You do? Blah."

I laughed quietly at the strange remark; didn't everyone like gummi worms? And not the gummi worms with the 'y' at the end because those were the nasty gummi worms, but the gummi worms with the 'i' were the best kind.
"I mean, unless Alice doesn't have gummi worms here, then popcorn sounds good," I added quickly. I pulled on the cotton t-shirt I was wearing.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. This house has every possible candy. Literally." Rosalie said. "I think Mr. and Mrs. Cullen fed Edward and Alice too much candy when they were little, and that's why they're kinda coo-coo." Rosalie pointed her index finger towards her head and made little circles with it.
"Hey! I saw that!" Alice said, crossing her hands over her chest. Whoa, she magically appeared out of nowhere. "But... it's true. They did."
"I'll keep that in mind the next time we go to a candy shop..." I muttered and let out a little laugh.
"Oh shoot... we don't have Sprite. Edward! Edward, can you come here!" Alice cupped her hands over her mouth.
"No." Was Edward's reply.
"Please! Can you go to the store?"
"No."
"Edward, come on, please?"
"No."
"Bella will go with you!"
"What?!" I hissed underneath my breath, shooting Alice a warning glance. Someone was 'tha-dunk'ing down the stairs. Edward had only black skinny jeans on.
"Does it look like I'm ready to go to the store, Alice?" Edward asked, closing his eyes and leaning against the door frame. You know that feeling when there's this embarrassed giggle clawing its way up your throat, but you try so hard not laugh that you're nearly choking yourself from not laughing? Yeah, well, that's how I felt right now, but little spits of air passed through my clamped lips as I fought so hard not to let that giggle escape my throat.
"Sure it does! Just go put on a shirt and wahla!" Alice said, tempting Edward. "Come on, please. You can even have first dibs."
"Alice, I don't want to go to the store, okay?" He turned and trotted back up the stairs.
"Fine, Sassafras!"
"Shut it, Palm."
"You, Pine."
"Your face, Oak."
"Are you guys naming trees?" I asked, cursing myself with 'trees' came out higher than the other words.
"Of course not. Now, go up there and get Edward to shimmy back down here with a shirt on and go to the store!"
"But-"
"Ah-ta-ta."
"Alice-"
"Bella, please, I would like Sprite."
"Fine..."

I walked up the stairs slowly, wondering what Edward's room would look like. Maybe plain? Maybe something creative? I dragged my hand up slowly, knocking lightly on the door so that he wouldn't hear.
"Yeah?" Shoot.
"Can I... can I um come in... please?" I asked awkwardly.
"Go ahead; door's open."

I took a deep breath, let all the excitement rush out, and opened the door. A rush of cool air pushed against my face.

:D, this is so LONG ! I was going to write more... but I don't think it would fit all on one chapter thingy. So, I already know what the next chapter is gonna be about, so it'll come much faster than this one :)). Oh and check out my profile for an album; it has pictures for this chapter :O.