Thx to my betas Reamhar & KCerena!

No awkward teenage sex in this one, sorry!

Chapter 21 - Paint It Black

While I was blissfully floating along in my Edward bubble the next day, things apparently still hadn't improved much between Alice and Jas. Jas had given up on carrying Alice's books and pushing doors open for her, and I didn't see them walking in the hallways together like they usually did. During lunch, Jas was pouting and throwing her weird glances, but Alice stuck to her guns and ignored him. The tension between them was palatable as we sat at the lunch table together and I wished I'd come up with an excuse to escape to bio early with Edward. By the end of the school day, when I saw Jas leaning against the gym with his shoulders slouched, I felt bad for him.

"So what's going on with Alice?" I prodded as we were walking toward the truck.

"Whatever, Bella. Go run and play with Eddie!" he answered flippantly.

"Shut up, Jas! Stop calling him that! And for your information, I'm not hanging out with him today. Rose and I have to work later."

"Listen, I know you're taking Alice's side. So just leave me alone, for fuck sake," he snapped, upping his pace and jumping into our truck.

"Fine," I answered, slamming the door shut behind me. "But so you know, I'm not taking anybody's side here. Is Rose getting a ride with Emmett?"

"Looks like it," he replied without further comment and we drove the rest of the way home in silence. When we walked in Jas turned on the TV and pretended I didn't exist.

I tried doing my homework in the kitchen, but eventually I gave up and walked back into living room. Unhappy Jas didn't sit well with me and I wanted him to know that I definitely didn't pick any sides in this conflict. Confronting him head on about Alice again probably wasn't a smart choice, so I stood uselessly in the doorway digging my hands into my jean pockets, trying to figure out what to say.

"So, Jas, have you watered our plant lately?" I offered, figuring a mutual topic of interest might bring us back to talking terms.

"No." He truly didn't give me much to work with.

"Okay . . . do you wanna come check how the plant is doing? Maybe we can call Jake if it looks like it's dying?"

"She," he whispered, apparently watching an episode of Hawaii Five-O with absolute fascination.

"She – what?" I asked, starting to get impatient.

"The plant – it's not an 'it' – it's a pollinated female plant, Bella," he explained sounding annoyed.

"Alrighty then. Should we go check how she's doing?" I almost didn't expect a response, but then I heard him sigh noisily. He stretched out his legs and it looked like he was about to move.

"Fine," he said getting up and walking toward the stairs.

I hadn't actually looked at the plant in a couple of days and so when Jas opened up the closet door, I was amazed to find the plant not only alive, but flourishing. He had apparently propped it up with strings and now it really did look like mini agricultural project was blooming away in our closet.

"Wow, looks really . . . neat." I saw a semi-smile twitch across my twin's lips as he misted the plant with water.

"Yeah, I actually think we might eventually be able to harvest her," he murmured, scratching his head. "Do you want to smoke?"

"Yeah, sure."

We smoked our joint quietly out the window, both staring at the tree in front of us.

"So, since we know it's a girl and all, shouldn't we name her?" I asked, inspecting the dark green needles on the tree. Jas chuckled.

"What, Bells, you wanna give her a pet name?"

"Umm, yeah. Sounds like a good idea. I mean, we're going to keep her hopefully for a while . . . so definitely. How about Jane?" I suggested, giving him the first female name that came to mind.

"Ugh, no. No way. Remember Ms. Payne from first grade?" I nodded. It was hard to forget how evil our first grade teacher had been. She'd once ordered us both to stand in the corner of the classroom for an entire period because we were five minutes late on our first day of school.

"So her first name was Jane? Okay, no thanks. How about Janis? After Janis Joplin?"

"Yeah, cool. Janis sounds great," I agreed. I continued gazing out the window while we finished our joint, not sure how to bring up the topic that was really bothering me. I didn't have much time left, since I had to be at work thirty minutes later and I knew Rose could arrive at any minute.

So finally I blurted it out, "So . . . what's going on with Alice?"

"Listen, Bella, first you don't want to talk about your boyfriend, which is fine, since I honestly don't want to know the kinky details, but now you're all curious about what's going on with Alice. I dunno – go ask her . . . seems like you are more on talking terms with her these days than I am."

"Fine. What do you wanna know? Ask away!" I offered.

"I don't, okay!" He got up and held his hands up, as if surrendering.

"Okay. It's just . . . man, Jas. You were looking like someone rained on your parade or something today at school. And it just feels weird being around you two . . ."

"Spare me the speech, okay? I've had to watch you and Eddie fawning over each other for weeks and trust me, it got old really fast."

"I'm not complaining about it. I'm just saying . . . if you want to talk, I'm here. And stop calling him Eddie, please."

"Thanks," he whispered, sitting down on the floor with his back leaning against the wall. I sank down next to him. I took a closer look at my brother, noticing his tan had almost disappeared. The blond streaks in his hair seemed less vibrant and more subdued.

"I tried to apologize for my shitty behavior and everything on Sunday. I thought, if I explained it to her, she'd just . . . you know . . . she'd forget about it and we'd move on. But then the whole conversation turned into this big discussion about how I'd used her and . . . It was a total disaster and that's an understatement.

"We ended up sitting around and staring at each other for an hour before I got up and left."

I'd wanted Jas to tell me what was going on, but what he told me left me more confused than anything.

"What are you going to do?"

"I dunno. She said unless I can come up with something to show her I'm serious about her, I don't need to come to her room anymore or even call her. So far nothing I've tried has worked . . ."

"Sounds harsh." I wasn't sure whether I admired Alice's resolute behavior or whether I found it a little cruel. One thing was for certain though, if Edward ever acted like an ass, I still probably wouldn't have the strength to push him away like that. The whole concept of playing games with people you liked seemed pointless to me. What was really accomplished at the end of the day? I regretted telling Alice that maybe the cold-shoulder act would be a good idea. Considering my lack of experience in the relationship department, I was talking out of my ass anyway. Maybe I should have insisted that she should confront him about his asshole act.

"So do you have any idea what she wants me to do?" Jas looked at me with hope in his eyes and I knew I'd have to disappoint him.

"Umm, yeah, I dunno, Jas. I hate to burst your bubble there, but I'm as clueless as you are on what she could possibly want." I shrugged my shoulders. I heard a car pull up in front of our house and got up on my knees to check who it was. I was almost happy when I saw Rose crawl out of Emmett's car and motion with her hand for me to come down as she recognized me in the window.

"I gotta go, Jas," I said, grabbing an extra sweater. "Let's talk tonight when I get home okay?"

"Sure. And, Bells?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry I walked in on you and Edward. I should've knocked."

"It's fine. I'm over it already."

I ran down the stairs to join Rose, who was by now sitting and waiting for me in the truck. When we got to work ten minutes later, Betty told us that two people had called in sick and we'd have to help her close the diner down. By the time we got home that night, all I wanted to do was sleep. I was relieved when I opened the door to our room and found Jas already asleep. I didn't know how to help him and part of me was terrified. Jas looked like shit and I knew I wouldn't fare much better if Edward ever treated me the way Alice was treating him now. I was grateful I was physically so exhausted that I fell into a deep slumber without thinking about it too much.

******

By the time we rode to school the next morning, my siblings and I were all stuck in a funk. Maybe Jas's mood was rubbing off on Rose and me. I felt gloomy thinking of spending another day without any alone time with Edward and dress shopping didn't seem at all appealing to me. Added to my general gloominess was a hefty dose of anxiousness about the doctor's visit. Would the doctor give me the prescription even though I was under eighteen? Would he or she ask me why I wanted the prescription for the pill?

I had no idea why Rose was moping. I could see some bags under her eyes and her hair tied up in an untidy bun, which was usually my style of choice on days when I was too lazy to wash my hair – definitely not Rose's style. Even her outfit today looked like it was carelessly thrown together. The red t-shirt she was wearing didn't exactly match the purple v-neck sweater above it.

We pulled up at school and I saw Edward and Alice standing along side a shiny red car parked next to their Volvo. If the Volvo was kind of a misfit in the sea of Chevys, Pontiacs and Fords parked in the small parking lot, the tiny red car was completely alien to its surroundings.

The minute I stepped out of the car, Alice came skipping toward me, almost pouncing with excitement.

"Come look, Bella! Mother let me take the Alfa Romeo for a spin today. We'll be totally driving in style to Port Angeles!" she chirped. I walked together with Rose to the shiny red thing she'd referred to her as the Alfa whatever and wasn't sure how the three of us would fit into the car. A brief glance confirmed there were only two seats and no backseat. The Alice, now standing next to the fancy European car, didn't quite fit the image that the car exuded. Space problems aside, none of us looked like we belonged in a car that swanky. Alice used to look like she'd belong there back when she wore designer outfits every day, but she'd lately taken to dressing like a spruced up version of Rose or me, today pairing a sloppy flower top with a headband and jeans.

"Alice, how exactly do you propose to fit the three of us into the car?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow, before my mouth was able to verbalize the same concern. I was still far too occupied with the sight in front of me.

"I figured you two can squeeze into one seat," she replied with a smile. "Trust me, you'll fit. As a bonus, this car is faster than the Volvo, so the ride will not only be quick, but also fun!"

"Maybe you guys should take my car, Alice. It will be more comfortable and safer I think," Edward suggested, looking worriedly at his sister.

"Nonsense, Edward. I'd take beauty before comfort any day of the week. We'll make it work. It will be fine! Stop worrying, I promise I'll get your girlfriend back in one piece," Alice snapped with her hands on her tiny hips, challenging Edward to argue with her.

I laughed.

"I'm less concerned about returning in one piece, than being squished to death." I stopped laughing when I noticed Jas had just passed us by and walked on toward the building alone.

I gave Edward a brief kiss and whispered into his ear, "Hey, I'm gonna run after Jas. I'll see you later?"

"I'll walk with you," he answered grabbing my hand and towing me into the building. After another soft kiss in front of my classroom, I felt instantly better as I walked to our desk where Jas was already sitting. Jas had folded his arms over the table and was hiding his face. The teacher hadn't arrived yet, and I was tempted to poke him with my pencil to get his attention. Then again, I had nothing to say to lighten his mood and so I doodled on my notebook instead of attempting to rouse him.

Lunch break felt awkward and not even Edward playing with my fingers could distract me. Jas pretended to read a book and Alice was painting her nails. Rose was looking at college brochures she'd dragged along. I think she was trying to convince Emmett to apply to a few other schools aside from the ones that had extended football scholarship offers to him. He didn't seem too thrilled with Rose's plan and spent most of the lunch break trying to ignore her.

"Hey, want to get out of here?" Edward whispered into my ear when the tension at our table had become so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Sure."

I was wondering whether we had to come up with an excuse for why we were leaving so early, but nobody even gave us a second glance as we got up and left. Edward dragged me straight into the next classroom and started kissing me hungrily.

"I missed you . . . " he panted into my mouth, grabbing my hips and pressing himself against me. "What are you doing tomorrow after school?"

"Well, I have to go grocery shopping with Rose tomorrow. The fridge is almost empty and I have a paper to finish for Friday, so . . ."

"How about Friday then, after school or at night or both?" he asked, nudging my shoulder with his chin.

"I have to work the late shift at the diner. I'm sorry, Edward. Saturday?"

"Definitely Saturday. Can I pick you up from your shift at the diner on Friday?"

"I don't finish up until at ten the earliest and I'll smell like grease afterward . . . and be dead tired."

"I just want to drive you home. I don't care if we only spend ten minutes together."

"Fine. It's not that I don't want to see you. Trust me, I wish I didn't have to work this Friday."

"What's the paper about?" he asked suddenly, popping up his head up from my hair to look at me.

"Composition for my Spanish class. Why?" He smirked at me. "Oh, no, Edward. You're so not writing my crappy Spanish composition for me. It won't take me long. I need to sit down and do it on my own though."

"I wouldn't write it for you. I'd just help you with it and maybe you'd be done faster," he replied with a pouty expression on his face.

"No, Edward. Trust me, it won't take me long either. I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow." We kissed until the bell rang and we had to hurry to class.

After five minutes of Banner's lecture, I received a neatly written note from Edward.

Can I drive you to Port Angeles today? I read. As much as I would have preferred to ride with him in the Volvo to Port Angeles, I was sure Jas would be pissed because Rose had told him he couldn't come along and I also wasn't sure whether Alice would be pleased to have her brother tag along.

Sorry, girls only trip. Rose's decree, not mine, I replied quickly.

When are you coming back? Do you think Jas will leave tonight? Or I could just come over to your house and we could do homework together?

I don't know when we'll get back. You know it takes a really long time to reach civilization! Alice doesn't want Jas to come over anymore . . . I think. Didn't she tell you?

I had no idea. I thought they were fine.

Edward - are you blind? Didn't you see that there was trouble in paradise?

Not sure. They seemed fine on Monday. He glanced over at me with furrowed eyebrows.

Trust me—fine is not the word I would use for Jas carrying Alice's books like that. He told me she doesn't want him to come over. I doubt Rose will switch rooms with me, I scribbled back.

Movies on Saturday without Alice and Jas?

Sure. Sounds perfect!

Edward picked me up from gym, further proof that he was suffering from separation anxiety as much as I have been, and as weird as it might seem, I found that calming.

"I'll call you, if we're not coming home too late," I said kissing him,

"Call –even if it's late, okay?" he asked, looking for a promise.

"Yeah, definitely." I let go of his hand and crawled into Alice's car. Once the door was closed, Alice drove at a scary speed out of the parking lot. Rose and I sat so close together that we had to move our arms in front of us and half of my butt was squished between the empty space of the door and the seat. I was berating my decision to tell Edward that he couldn't come along.

Alice turned the radio on and Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" blared out of the sound system.

"So did you get an appointment around the same time?" Rose asked, looking over at Alice.

"Yeah, sure did. I hope the doctor doesn't know my Dad, but I gave her a wrong name just as a precaution."

"Probably a good idea. Would your parents object to you going to the doctor though?"

"My Mother would have a nervous breakdown and Father . . . honestly, I don't want to think about it. Does your father know why we're driving to Port Angeles?"

"Nah, he assumes it's to buy clothes," I replied.

We started talking about school for the rest of the drive and Alice told us about her first few days at Forks High, how people hadn't welcomed her and Edward the same way they'd welcomed my family. Instead they were greeted with hostility the minute they arrived. Lauren and Jessica were particularly mean to Alice from day one, often ramming into her when they saw her in the hallways. The already infamous James even made Alice trip a couple of times and after the first week or so, she only dared to walk around the place with Edward by her side. To my astonishment, Emmett had apparently recruited Edward to the football team since he was such a fast runner, but then James and one of his buddies beat the crap out of Edward after practice. Edward's mom made him quit the team after that, even though he was willing to toughen it out. Alice made some comment about how her mom didn't want Edward to join the team to begin with, fearing he'd possibly break some bones and being that she wanted him to study medicine, any injuries, in particular to his hands, made the whole football thing undesirable from the get go. I wasn't a big football fan, but thought it must be kind of strange to be forbidden to join a sports team. I felt bad for Edward and missed him a bid more.

Through all of Alice's stories the name James kept on popping up frequently and never in a positive way. I was curious to ask about the car accident, but then figured it was probably best not to pressure her to tell a story like that .

"That sounds really shitty, " I commented after another one of Alice's stories during which Lauren or one of her friends stole Alice's clothes during gym and she had to ride home in her gym clothes. "I don't like Lauren, but most of the other students have been sort of friendly and harmless. I think Lauren's only a bitch to me because of Edward." I stared absentmindedly out of the window.

"I didn't expect it either, and I still don't understand what we did to them. I was so excited when we finally moved to a town big enough to have a high school we could attend and then it turned out to be so horrible," Alice complained with a disappointed expression on her face. "All I dreamed about were school dances and friends who were my own age. I was so happy at first and then it sort of all fell apart."

"They're jealous, Alice," Rose stated, rolling her eyes. "I mean look at the fucking car you're driving and the house you live in! Your Dad's a doctor. Most of the people here are pretty average. They work as loggers and rangers. Forks is a pretty working class town, you know? . . . And the clothes you used to dress up in probably didn't help your case either. They're not hostile to us, because they mostly pity us. We're the kids of a local cop whose crackpot wife ran away with the circus. We have no money and we drive the shittiest car in the school parking lot. Yeah, they don't love us either, but they don't hate us."

What Rose said made sense to me and it was the most obvious explanation. Alice, though, looked like she was stunned by Rose's conclusions. She stared ahead and it almost looked like she was blinking away some tears.

"I guess I was pretty naïve, huh?" Alice finally whispered. "And I should probably have tried to pick a less ostentatious car as well. Edward was right. When Mother bought me the car I crashed, Edward immediately said not to drive it to school."

"It doesn't excuse how they treated you, Alice. I was just trying to give you an explanation. It's not you as a person they dislike. It's what you have and they don't that makes them hate you, do you understand?" Rose said.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Rose."

Alice didn't say anything further and we arrived in the town of Port Angeles a little while later.

The doctor turned out to be nice matronly looking woman in her mid 50s who asked no questions and gave us the prescription without checking out how old we were. Even the dreaded exam was short and painless. When we filled our prescriptions, I was wondering why Alice had bothered with this since she'd banned Jas from her bedroom, but I kept quiet instead.

Dress shopping, however, turned out to be far more painful than the freaking doctor's visit. Alice was worse than Rose and Renee combined in her insistence that I try on one dress after another. They all looked perfectly horrible on me. Due to the complete lack of sunshine in this state, my pale skin had taken on an outright ghostly shade and the dark blue dress Alice insisted I buy only emphasized that fact.

"Alice, I think the dress is too big," I complained, pushing my chest out in vain. My small boobs were swallowed up by the spaghetti-strap top hanging off my shoulders.

"I'll make all the adjustments and shorten it. I'm really good with the sewing machine, trust me, you will look glamorous. I'll curl your hair too!" Alice screamed, running around the dressing room in a pink baby doll dress she'd picked.

Rose laughed out loud when she noticed the expression of sheer horror on my face. She of course looked perfect in a red mini dress that needed no adjustments whatsoever.

"Edward will love it!" Alice announced, pinching the hem of the dress up further and tightening the top so that it almost looked like I had cleavage.

"Great," I huffed, feeling self-conscious.

"Yeah, he'll come in his pants," Rose assessed, standing next to me.

"What would be the point of that? I'm not planning on taking those pills for nothing," I murmured, inspecting my fake cleavage in the mirror a little closer.

"So you haven't yet, huh?" Rose asked with a grin.

"Nope. You have the single room, remember? Where all the rubbers in the house have been gathering dust for months?" I stared at my perfect sister.

"Just because I can't coax Emmett into my room unless he's completely wasted and useless, doesn't mean the rubbers have been collecting dust. There's always the car . . . and the bleachers." I wrinkled my nose in response. "Although I'm growing really tired of the car thing and the lack of frequency. Apparently his coach told him no sex before training and not at all before games . . .

Besides so Alice, what's going on between you and our dear brother?" Rose asked. I wasn't sure whether it was out of curiosity or to divert the conversation topic. I had never known Rose to be shy about her sexual escapades, so I assumed she was being nosey.

"Well, at first I just wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. He acted like such a jerk on the camping trip and the days before that. Then I started feeling like we'd probably moved way too fast in the beginning . . . I don't know what to do now. It all seems a bit messy, but I trust that we'll figure it out . . . I know we'll figure it out." I glanced at Alice as she answered Rose's question and noticed she looked less sure than she sounded.

"Maybe you need to talk to him again," I suggested. Jas' mood was seriously starting to wear me down and I wanted Edward to be able to sneak into my room again.

Alice wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me. "I will, Bella. Just give me some time, okay?"

"Fine. No pressure. Living, never mind sharing a room, with a moping brother is just no fun." Alice nodded in understanding.

We paid for the dresses and leisurely started walking to the diner we had visited on our fated date night when a beat up car drove by at slow speed. At first I didn't even notice the car -- only the really loud music coming from a bad sound system. I recognized the Stones' "Paint it Black" coming from the scratchy speaker and then saw the look of fright on Alice's face. She'd stopped walking and was staring at the car. A guy with greasy, slicked back dark blond hair stared at us from the passenger window. His eyes were icy blue and a chill ran down my spine as he flipped and pushed a matchstick around into his mouth with his tongue. There was something cruel about his face and a bright pink scar over his left eyebrow made him appear more menacing.

"Hey, sugar tits, do you wanna take a ride with us?" he yelled over to Rose who was walking closest to the street.

"Go fuck yourself, loser!" Rose yelled back without a pause.

"Fiery, I like it. Bet you're a real firecracker in bed."

"If you don't step on the gas pedal real fast, asshole, you'll leave me no choice but to call my Dad, who's a cop by the way."

The guy whistled and leaned out of the window farther. All of a sudden it seemed like we were the only people walking down a deserted street. There was nobody near by and the shop we were passing was closed. I pulled Rose away from the curb by her arm and she took a step back. I was about to suggest that we run to the diner, but finally the guy who was driving the car took the hint and sped off.

"Wow! What a thick-skinned moron," Rose huffed, flinging her hair over her shoulder, not noticing that Alice was now as white as a sheet and shivering in shock.

"What's wrong, Alice?" I asked.

She shook her head briefly before answering in a low voice, "I knew he'd be back. I just didn't think it would be so soon."

"Do you know the asshole who just drove by?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows questioningly.

"Yeah, that's James Mallory," Alice answered in a strained voice.

*****

I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and must have it painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black

('Paint it Black' – The Rolling Stones)

******

Reviewers will get teasers for the next chapter! I'd also love to hear whether there are any other POVs I should include in a possible "outtakes" part of this story. Let me know! Love to hear from you!