A/N Mmm, pizza.
Disclaimer: We don't own anything.
It was the week of winter formal. Alice was up to her nose in preparations for what she claimed was going to be the best winter formal Forks High School had ever seen. Tickets for the dance were selling like crazy. She always put Rose and I in charge of the ticket booth.
Tanya had suddenly become a part of our group. If we weren't with her, Ange always made sure she was with her. A couple days ago, Lauren had made her fall right outside of the office. Alice freaked out, as did we and called 911. Tanya insisted she was okay, but Alice having read all about pregnancies, said that she was most certainly not okay.
"You fell Tanya, you could have lost the bean!"
Tanya looked up at her from her spot on the bench outside the door where Emmett and Edward had helped her lay down while Jasper Rose and I gathered her books and stuff.
"The bean?" Tanya asked smiling at her. She looked a little pale.
"That's what we're calling him/her until we know what it is, Bean."
"I'm sure he/she's okay Ali." Tanya tried reassuring her just as the ambulance came flying through the parking lot. It pulled up to the curb and paramedics rushed to us. They examined Tanya and took her away on a stretcher. Alice shoved me toward the ambulance before rethinking it, and jumping ahead of me.
"I'll text you when they say the Bean is definitely okay." she said over her shoulder as she got in right behind her.
They left and we went inside. The principal said we should stay here.
A good forty five minutes later Alice let us know Tanya and the now newly named Beanie Baby were okay. From then on, Ange was always with her, or we were. Her parents approved of her hanging with us all the time. They didn't even object to Taco and Pizza Tuesday Nights. Even Dad didn't mind having her at our house when her parents went on business trips and I invited her to stay the night. A few people around school had come to Tanya's defense eventually, and whenever Lauren was rude to her in the hall and if none of us were around, someone would take a stand for her. Mike was usually the one to do so these days. I had a feeling something was going on there, but I usually forgot to bring it up when I saw her.
Tanya's parents were gone the weekend of Winter Formal. Dad was away on some sort of Police conference in Seattle, so Tanya and I went to stay with the Cullens'. Alice had gone shopping for us weeks before and had gotten us gowns for the dance. She had taken Tanya on Tuesday and they had picked out a beautiful pale pink gown. And she looked like an angel with her strawberry blond hair falling around her face and her cheeks bright and eyes sparkling when she showed us how she looked. Rose took a picture of her and declared her perfect.
"You're going to look pretty. So is Mike taking you?" I asked her grinning at her. She blushed faintly and nodded.
He said he'd meet me outside. he's even getting me a corsage!" she gushed and Rose smiled as we walked out and toward the car.
That night had of course been Taco Pizza Tuesday night. Esme took special care to make sure Tanya was eating the right foods whenever she was at her house. She always had carrot sticks and broccoli and celery and strawberries, which were her cravings at the moment.
Tonight was Friday. It had been a long week at school what with preparations for the dance and Rose and I running Alice and Jasper's Prince and Princess campaign. It felt good to finally relax before tomorrow. I lay on the floor in my sleeping bag while Alice painted my toes.
"So, do you think we'll win Prince and princess?" Alice asked us.
"Absolutely. I mean you're up against Lauren and Austin Marks. And let's face it, everyone practically hates them, except for the cronies, so yes, you'll definitely win." Tanya spoke up from where Rose was painting her nails. She had her head turned away so she wouldn't smell the nail polish as much. She was watching a rerun of Gilmore Girls. I wouldn't ever tell anyone who wasn't in my immediate circle of friends, but I had always thought Dean had been the hottest guy Rory had ever dated. And Suki was the funniest one out of the bunch. I mean Lorelai was too, but Suki was well, Suki.
Before we went to bed, Edward came and kissed me good night. He was always doing sweet things like that and my heart almost melted whenever he did that. Like the other day, he had come in to Economics just to say hi and to give me a kiss and a brownie. Everyone stood there with their mouths agape and whoops from Edward's fellow Football players. He was the best guy on Earth! If not the earth then the entire universe!
The next day was busy. We all had to get ready and leave two hours before the dance so Alice could make sure everything was just perfect. Jake was coming too, with Vanessa, the girl who had gone against Rosalie for homecoming. She was actually a total sweetheart. Jake was definitely in to her. She suited him to perfection.
As always, Gran and Esme took millions of pictures of us before we left. I was in the pretty gold and green dress Alice had gotten for me. Edward looked dashing, as always in his tux. Alice rented a limo for us, with Esme's permission, of course, and we all piled in excited for tonight.
When we got there, people were there already ready for pictures. Some girls wore their plastic crowns that they got with their tickets. People stared when they saw Tanya step out in her gown. And then they gawked when Mike met her there with Ben who came with Angela. As we walked in, Lauren came up to her in a slinky black dress, that barely concealed her cleavage, which practically burst out of the front. "So, Tanya, how many times did you have to alter your dress, huh?"
"Stuff it, Lauren." Mike said his blue eyes flashing. Lauren sniffed and walked away.
"Keep an eye on her." I whispered to Mike who nodded and put an arm around Tanya and led her to one of the tables set up around the dance floor. Ange and Ben followed them. We stuck around the entrance to make sure all the tickets were collected. When that was done, we went out to the dance floor and danced for a bit before sitting with Tanya. When we got there, Mike had his phone out and he was glaring. That's when we noticed that almost everyone had them out. I pulled mine out of my purse and saw that I had a text from Katie Marshall. It was pretty bad.
Happy Winter Formal. Just an announcement, we all know who Tanya's baby's dad is. It's pretty obvious, just look who she's sitting with. Tanya, you whore, you stole him from Lauren and now you'll Effin' pay!
Emmett looked like he wanted to rip Katie Marshall to shreds. So did just about everyone else who was on Tanya's side. Even Jake looked mad. How could Katie do a thing like that? She was such a sweetheart. How could she have just switched to the Dark Side like that? This wasn't right.
Everyone looked at Katie, who looked pale and completely shocked.
"Faker." Jasper muttered.
"Katie, how could you do something like that? I mean come on I don't like Tanya, but hell! I wouldn't send a massive text like that!" Lauren said her voice pitched at a horrible high octave it hurt my pretty little ears! Geesh!
"But Lauren, guys I didn't…"
"Oh stop lying, you did! It says on everyone's phones! It's from Katie Marshall. Come on now sweets." Lauren said tossing her perfectly curled silver blond hair over her shoulders, making them bounce.
"I swear I didn't!" Katie said her voice louder now, her cheeks now deep red. "Sure, sure. But thank you. Now we know who the dad is." Lauren said turning her gaze to Tanya and Mike who looked as though they wanted to leave the room.
"You hoe!" Lauren spat before walking over to the table. And before anyone could stop her, she slapped Tanya hard across the face, making her almost fall out of her chair. Mike caught her before she fell.
I didn't know what came over me at that moment, but what I did know was that I felt my heart pounding in my chest and I could swear I was seeing red as I stepped forward and with strength I didn't know I had, I grabbed Lauren by her hair and pulled hard making her face turn to me.
"If you ever say anything like that to her or anyone else again, I'll personally come and find you and beat the living shit out of you, you hear me Lauren Malory?" And then I slapped her and let her go, and she fell head first into the bowl of punch. Guys groaned as it all spilled. Of course, it must have probably just been spiked, but who the heck cared anyway?
"Malory, let's get you to the office and call your parents. Tanya, Bella are you two alright?" It was Coach Brennon. I nodded and Lauren was escorted away. When I looked around the room again, I noticed Katie Marshall slipping out of the side door of the gym.
The punch was quickly cleaned up and people resumed dancing, seemingly having forgotten what had just happened. The music was loud again, and we all had a good time. Edward and I danced all the slow dances. He held me close to him and I inhaled the scent of him. We talked, laughed and watched Rose and Emmett dance too.
Alice pulled me away from Edward near the end of the night and she took me to a little room off the gym. It smelled like old footballs and matts. She thrust a box into my hands. Rose and Tanya came in a few seconds later.
"Count the votes. And then give the envelope to Weltz."
"Got it." I said before We each decided the slips of paper between the three o f us while Alice turned her back to us nervously humming Love Is An Open Door from Frozen. We added them all up five minutes later, wrote it down, and sealed the teal colored envelope and I ran it to the principal. Rose was right behind me carrying the crowns. Tanya looked excited. Alice had left just before we sealed the envelope. When Weltz approached the mic, everyone stopped dancing. I went and stood next to Rose, Emmett and Edward as we waited. I didn't dare spoil it for anyone. I was supposed to crown Jasper. But nobody knew that yet. I held the crown as we waited.
"The votes were counted three times and tallied. And the results are in. For Winter Formal Princess…" he trailed off and ripped open the envelope and pulled out the pink slip of paper as all the candidates waited. He unfolded it and read the name aloud.
"Mary Alice Cullen!" Screams erupted as Rose placed the crown on Alice's head as she beamed and took her spot up by the principal.
"And Winter Formal Prince is…" he trailed off, pulling out the blue slip of paper. I looked over at Austin who was shooting murderous glares in Jasper's direction as if already knowing he was going to lose to him.
"The winner is… Jasper Hale!" We all cheered as I proudly went and placed the crown on his head and stepped back to watch them dance the prince and princess dance.
As we watched, Edward turned to me his emerald eyes sparkling.
"So, Bella, how about you and I run for prom king and queen?" I laughed and smiled up at him. "Absolutely. I would be honored."
"Good. We'll tell Alice." he said and he kissed me and then we went to dance with the others.
When we arrived home, Carlisle and Esme were waiting with cake and hot chocolate as celebration for Alice and Jasper's crownings. We all gathered around the table and dug in. Alice and Jasper were all smiles as she ate. Esme took pictures of them with their crowns. It was then that Edward made our little announcement.
"So, Bella and I are so excited to tell you that we're running for prom king and queen. And we want Alice to help us with posters and such." Alice squealed and clapped as Carlisle and Esme smiled at us.
"You're going to have the best campaigns Forks High school has ever seen! Rose we have to start putting in orders for their posters and pins now! Of course I know Jasper and Emmett are going to help. Oh, and we should go all out and get them shirts, and lanyards, and mugs and…"
"Alice." Esme chided gently. "It's barely been mere hours since you were crowned princess sweetheart. Rest a few days before you begin on Bella and Edward's campaign."
Alice pouted but agreed reluctantly.
"Okay, fine. Tanya, do you want to help?" Tanya smiled at Alice. "Yeah, I can. By the way thanks for tonight. I had lots of fun."
We all smiled at her. "No need to thank us Tanya." Alice said warmly.
Alice then went on and told Carlisle and Esme how I had defended Tanya against Lauren, and how I hadn't gotten in trouble for it.
"I didn't get in trouble because I spilled the spiked punch, Ali." I said pulling the pins out of my hair.
"Doesn't matter. Lauren's going to hate that you didn't. And we strive to make her mad." Alice said before laughing.
"Just be careful that you don't get her too mad at you." Carlisle said.
"Oh, we won't. Oh, what did you guys think of Jake and Van?"
"I always thought him and Leah would like last a lifetime." Rose said sighing.
"Yeah, but you know Sam came back from USC. But at least the break up was mutual." Jasper said.
"Yeah, and Van is really such a sweetheart. She is so into Jake and he her." I said.
"Yeah." Alice agreed.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I want to get some sleep." Emmett said. We all nodded in agreement. We said good night to Carlisle and Esme and we went upstairs. I called Gran and told her I was okay. She said she was happy to hear that and told me to please congratulate Jasper and Ali for her. She said Dad had come home early, and they were just watching reruns of Seventh Heaven.
"So is Mike really the Dad?" Rose asked in the dark a few minutes later. Tanya took only a second to answer.
"He is. But we didn't want people to find out like that. I still can't believe Katie would do something like that to me, or anyone."
"Lauren is a manipulative person. She'll do anything in her power to ruin people's lives." I said simply.
"You're right." Tanya said. "Gosh, I can't believe I used to be just like her. I feel absolutely stupid."
"Don't. Now you just focus on graduating and your baby." Alice said smiling.
Tanya who had turned on the lamp to clean off her makeup smiled in the mirror.
"I will."
"Good." Rose said smiling and rolling onto her side.
My phone chimed and I read the text that came through and I smiled. It was from Edward.
Good night. I love you Bella.
I typed back quickly.
Good night Edward. I love you too. 3
That was the perfect way to end my night.
A/N First off, the next chapter will be longer than this. Spring break is coming up and a lot of fun stuff is going to ensue here! So can't wait to post those chapters. We only have six more chapters of this wonderful little story here. What did you guys think of Bella's reaction to what Lauren did to Tanya? And Katie Marshall's massive message? Let us know if some lovely reviews. Thank you tons!
—RoseNEmmettForever—