Hi, sorry it took me so long to upload. Each time I take a little break from writing, I have trouble getting back into the story and my break end up being way longer that I had intended. But anyway, here is the beginning of chapter 8!

Chapter 8: Alice

The next morning, I was walking without much enthusiasm to my first class when fate, or in this case, Rosalie, decided that I wouldn't reach my classroom that day.

"Bella psst" Rosalie hissed from her car

I came toward the beautiful red convertible to find that Angela and Jasper were also seated inside.

"How much opposed are you at playing hooky today?" Rosalie asked me

"What's going on?" I asked back

"No time to explain, get in"

Usually, skipping class would only cross my mind in desperate situations and even then I knew I would never go through. I think I already made it clear that I am more the 'first of the class' type. That's why I was the first to be surprised by what I did next: I did what Rosalie asked me to do and took a seat next to Angela in the back. The next thing I knew, Rosalie was driving out of the school parking lot.

Maybe what had convinced me what the air of decision in Rosalie and Jasper faces? They were clearly conveying that there was a serious matter at hands. Or maybe, I really was becoming a rebel! I think ever since I had begun to open up a little more, I felt like doing things normal student would do; like agreeing to skip classes… not that I wasn't a little bit uneasy about it. But at the same time, it was exhilarating to try things my old-self wouldn't have had the guts to do.

The scenery scrolling behind the window brought me back in the present time. I had assumed that we would be going to the Hale's place or at least to Angela's. But Rosalie was now speeding in the highway 101 towards the woods and I didn't know what to think anymore.

"Where are we going? What's going on?" I tried again.

To my surprise, it's Jasper that answered me.

"It's Alice", he said with an intensity I didn't know he was capable of.

That said, since I had learned about the messy part of his past, I was seeing every of his action trough different eyes.

The way Jasper had spoken about Alice let little doubt that we were supposed to know right away whose Alice he was talking about…and in fact, we did. So I guessed that Rosalie had told him about our little discussion the previous day. And he probably had also learned that Angela and I knew all about how Jasper was the reason of them meeting the Cullens. But he didn't seem upset about it and it reassured me.

"What about her?" I asked

"She called me this morning." He said "But she will explain everything by herself"

"Alice is here?" Angela reacted

Her surprise let me know that she, too, had been taken on board without explanations.

At this moment, Rosalie turned in a narrow road so lost in the wood that I had never noticed it.

"It's where the Cullens live" she explained before I had a chance to ask a third time where we were going.

At this point, I was past being surprised and at this news, I didn't even react. Except if you consider the knot that was forming in my stomach…and the sweat appearing on my hands…and my respiration turning short…so ok, maybe I was a little stressed to be going at the Cullens.

As suddenly as we had turned in the steep road, the trees that were surrounding us disappeared and a huge house came to sight.

Beside me, Angela made an appreciative whistle that perfectly resumed my thoughts.

I don't know what I had imagined the Cullen's house to look like but probably not like what I had in front of me. The house was huge, even bigger that Rosalie's one. It was modern, and a whole façade was made of glass. Probably to let a maximum of sun and heat enter in the house.

Speechless, I exited the car Rosalie had parked behind the Volvo that was also supposed to be in the school parking lot at this moment. The other had just followed my lead when the door of the house opened on Emmett.

His expression didn't reflect the serious ones of Rosalie and Jasper and I was almost ready to think that maybe, the situation wasn't so dramatic; when I remembered that Emmett would probably be grinning even in a tornado. So when he greeted us, he just seemed to be amused to receive so many of his classmates on a school day and he welcomed us warmly. I don't know if he was supposed to know that Angela and I were also coming but if he didn't he didn't question the reason of our presence.

In fact, while Emmett led us inside the house, he even seemed happy to have me there. After all, I was his everlasting source of teasing. This time, he was commenting on my unusual act of revolt in the form of skipping class.

"You know that you are breaking a rule, right?" "Are you sure you can handle it?" "Maybe you should ask for a detention when you come back"

Even if Emmet was only joking, the fact that he had noticed in only a few months that I was a rule-follower to the extreme was aggravating and I was angry with myself for being that way. Why couldn't I be less stressed to be missing some classes when everybody else seemed fine with it? My logic was telling me that one more hour or less of math wouldn't change my perfect GPA but my conscious couldn't let it go.

However, our entrance in the house erased these worries for more urgent issues.

The front door opened directly into a huge living room. Just in front of us, at the opposite side of the room, a grand staircase was leading to the other floors. At its right, comfortable looking sofas were arranged in a U around a coffee table and in front of a fireplace. Just next to this area, a real grand piano was open. On the left of the stairs, was an elegant dinner table and we could see an open kitchen behind, that looked very neat. Apart from the black of the piano, the others furniture were light colored which made the room very bright. I was just thinking that this smart use of natural light was giving a happy and welcoming atmosphere to the place when I spotted Edward descending the stairs. When he saw Angela and me, he looked positively furious and my previous feeling of comfort disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"What are they doing here?" he asked curtly.

"They came with me" Rosalie said defensively.

Edward looked as if he wanted to argue but thought better of it. So even if his eyes were still hard on me, he stayed quiet. Maybe, it was also because of the little girl that had appeared behind him. At first sight, I thought she was a child, but when she and Edward joined us in the living room, I realized my mistake. She was just a very petite girl, in very big boy clothes and probably around my age. She had short and tousled dark hair, a round face that made her look innocent but intense dark eyes that made her look wise; as if she knew things nobody else knew. All in all, she was very pretty and even in her unfitting cloths; the grace with which she moved was enough to make any clumsy person jealous. Except that she looked too nice to deserve anyone's grudge.

"Alice" Jasper exclaimed.

And he ran towards her, arms opened.

Yeah, Alice arrived in the story. The good news is, I already wrote a lot more. I just have small changes to do but I will upload for sure very soon.

Thanks for reading, thanks to review.