Chapter 25

Author's note: Sorry, I was on vacation. My mom said no computers so I had to wait till I was back home to write this. There's not much in this chapter but the next one will be her entire first day.

I woke up and just laid in my bed, thinking about what happened last night. After a few minutes I decided that it wasn't worth dwelling on. I had to remind myself that my family only meant well, and that I could either hold it against them, and go through my first day of high school morose and angry, or I could forget it, and focus on a successful day.

With a smile, I decided to forget. I also decided that I should let my family know I was awake. I blasted House of Pain's 'Jump Around' and began screaming and jumping on my bed.

"I'm a freshmen! I'm a freshmen. Pack it up, pack it in. Let me begin. I came to win, battle me, that's a sin."

Alice, Rosalie, Edward, Emmett, and Jasper walked into my room shaking their heads.

"I guess she's over it," Jasper said.

"Bella! Get down from there." Alice said. "You need to get dressed."

"I don't want to get dressed. I want to go in my pajamas," I laughed. I was still jumping on the bed until Emmett came over and hoisted me on his shoulder.

"Drop her off in the shower," Rosalie yelled.

"No! Let me go!" I yelled while laughing and hitting his back.

I was thrown into the shower, but before Emmett left he turned on the shower, while I still had my clothes on. My pajamas got soaking wet, but I really didn't care.

I showered and then blow dried my hair till is was wavy and smooth. Well, okay, Rosalie blow dried it, but I helped.

I held the brush.

I wondered where Alice was until I walked into my bedroom to see it covered in clothes. I wasn't worried about the mess, I knew Esme would love to clean it up in a few seconds, I was mostly worried about Alice's sanity. She was going crazy.

"I just can't find the right outfit for the first day!" She said, highly frustrated, while sitting down in my walk-in closet, dejected.

Jasper tried comforting her, but she looked completely lost.

"What happened to the outfit we picked out yesterday?" I looked at Edward, who even looked a little scared. I walked across the room to stand by him, my only force of protection if Alice began to blame me for not being anymore fashionable.

"It was too boring. We need something that will pop the first day. And it will rain today, so the shorts don't work. Goddamn fucking weather," she cursed. I had never heard her curse before; maybe Emmett, Rosalie, or Jasper, but never Alice, Edward or my parents.

"Maybe you should just let me pick out my outfit today. You know, for a change," I suggested, cautiously. I looked to Edward for confirmation but he just casually took a step away from me and began instantly fascinated with the ceiling.

"Bella! Don't even go there," she said, viciously, as she stared at me with black eyes.

I reached for Edward's arm.

"Alice?" Jasper cooed. "Alice. You'll think of something. We'll send Bella down to breakfast, while you work on her outfit. Is that alright? And I'll stay with you, I promise. Okay?" Jasper said, as he wrapped Alice to his chest. When she wasn't looking, he motioned for me to get out.

"You're coming with me," I hissed to Edward, while pulling the sleeve of his hunter green thermal shirt. "For protection."

Esme set out a feast for me. There chocolate pancakes and French toast. Every inch of the dining table was filled with bowls of fruits or yogurts. I hungrily reached for a pancake.

I had just inserted a large piece of pancake into my mouth when my mom started bombarding me with questions.

"So, do you know what you're wearing yet? Have you thought about Vladimir? Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure it won't be too hard today. At least you have your water polo friends, right? Are you going to have lunch with them? Or Alexandra, Camille, Tally, Becky and Eileen?"

I only bothered to answer the last question after I had swallowed the food in mouth. "Probably my middle school friends. I don't think Lina and Amanda want a freshman hanging around them all the time. I mean they're nice and everything, but I don't want to push myself on them," I explained before I took a sip of my orange juice.

"Oh, Bella, don't think like that. I'm sure they love your company," my mom said. She was always way too optimistic. It was nice sometimes, but this morning is just seemed overdramatic.

Once breakfast was done I began to cautiously walk back to my room, with Edward in tow, of course. I pressed my body against the wall, in a faux spy move. Edward just snickered.

"She's calmed down now," he informed me.

"Bella, I can hear your breathing. Come in here, you need to get dressed," Alice called from my room.

"You're coming with me," I hissed at Edward.

"No way, you're on your own," he said, holding up his hands in defense. His amber eyes looked playful and teasing. I really liked Edward when he and I would unite against our crazy family. I felt like sometimes it was us and them; us being Edward and I.

"Please, Edward," I pleaded with him. "Are you really gonna let Alice take advantage of a poor little girl like me?" I exaggerated the puppy dog eyes and looked up at him through my lashes.

"Fine, but if Alice asks for my opinion on anything you so owe me," he said. I just smiled and grabbed his cold hand.

"Okay Bella, I've decided on these," she handed me a stack of clothes, with a satisfied look on her face. "I think you will really like it. Go change!" She said excitedly.

I gave Edward a nervous but complied and walked into my adjacent bathroom.

Whoa. I loved it. Really. It was so me. Simple and laid back. Jasper must have talked with Alice about letting me dress the way I want to. I had on dark wash J Brand jeans with black strappy sandals. The studded belt was a little too out there for my taste, but it looked good with the outfit so I didn't complain. My top consisted of a plain black wife beater which scrunched up around my stomach and so barely met the top of my jeans, and a long Coach necklace with a glass stones in different colors spread apart on a gold chain.

I opened the door slowly and stepped out. I stood shyly by the door as Alice squealed in happiness. I just smiled and said thanks.

"You do not look like a freshman in that outfit," Alice declared.

But I turned to Edward and twirled around. "Like it?"

"Yeah, it looks nice," and he abruptly walked out of the room. "Be ready in ten."

I pouted at Edward's lame response. "Don't worry about it, Bella. He just acts weird sometimes," Alice explained, as if she's never acted weird before. Before I could say this, though, she sat me down on the bathroom ledge and told me to close my eyes.

"Not too much, Alice. I still have water polo practice today, and I don't want to have raccoon eyes," I said, warning her.

"I know, I know. Just a little," Alice said. It took her about a minute to smoothly apply some black eyeliner and mascara. "Here," she said and handed me a bottle of makeup remover.

"Thanks," I said. As Alice skipped back to her room, I went to go sit on my bed. I needed to mentally prepare myself for this day.

I was nervous. My stomach was turning. I wanted to make a good first impression. I was scared of being out casted. I was scared of having people laughing at me, or even ignoring me. I was naturally shy, so meeting new people is always tough. To top it off, I don't have any classes with my friends. I was taking significantly harder classes than them and so was put into a lot of classes with older kids. Another thing for me to worry about. How will I even survive those classes? I wasn't ready for Honors Physiology, Advanced Algebra 2/ Trig., or Honors World History. I may have been brought up by super smart people, but I definitely wasn't super smart.

I know I only have to stay here for two more years, so I probably won't make it to my junior year here. My dad was risking being found out by staying here to long. It's been four years since we've moved and after two more, it will be kind of pushing it.

If only my brothers and sisters were going to school with me. They promised me that next year they were, but I can't wait for next year. Maybe I can convince dad to let them come earlier, like at the semester. That way, I will only have to wait about twenty weeks. It was so unfair. I knew that Rosalie, Alice, Emmett, Jasper and Edward all wanted to go to school with me, but would never go against Carlisle.

I let my thoughts drift to last night. How sweet Vladimir's lips had tasted against mine was still branded in my head. What am I going to do? Would he even remember me? Would he actually like me? Would I like him back, or could I still be traumatized by Christian's power? And Christian! It was so weird, thinking about Christian but not getting that warm, sensual feeling that usually tagged along with my memories of him. Would we still be friends? Would I even still like him? I couldn't imagine being friends with a person who deliberately controls peoples' feelings.

Why was I even worrying about these guys? The school has over two thousand students, a thousand of which were guys. All of which were my age or older. I smiled. What better way to get over past crushes than getting new crushes? And if it led to a second boyfriend, I wouldn't complain.

I loved having a boyfriend. I remember being able to call Scott at any time, and just talk about nothing, and he would profoundly interested, in the beginning, that is. I remember making out on my bed. Awkward and clumsy, though it may have been (we were pretty shy about touching each other, so we usually just held hands or held each other's shoulder), it was still a lot of fun; especially since we were always on edge of my siblings coming in and yelling at us.

I laughed. No more clumsy Bella. Well, maybe that can't be helped, but I would at least try to act older. I would try to be more outgoing and confident. And if that didn't work, I would always have my siblings to be friends with next year, and a new town in the year after that.

"What are you doing, you freak?" Emmett asked, laughing, and he bombarded my room.

I laughed and promptly got off my bed.

Edward pulled up to the school. I took a big breath and looked at him with fearful eyes. "Please come with me?" I begged in a small voice. I looked at him with wide and pleading eyes.

Edward groaned. "Don't do this to me, Bella. You know we want to go with you. But just get through this first year, and we will be joining you next year. And then after that, we move. And then we can start over, but this time all together. Okay?"

I slammed my head against the headrest and then winced at how hard I did it. Nice, Bella. Let's get a concussion on your first day of school. Edward just laughed.

I turned toward the window. In the distance I saw Tally, Becky and Alexandra. They were waiting for me at our designated meeting spot. I didn't want them to be late for class, so I reluctantly opened the door.

"See you later," I said under my breath, knowing that Edward would hear it. I slung my Marc Jacobs black oversize tote on my shoulder and headed into the unknown.