Alice's POV

"Just come out and show us." I hissed toward the dressing room door. Leah had been in there for five minutes arguing about a gorgeous dress I had chosen for her. I wondered if it was because I was the one that chose it that made her protest to it so vehemently. The annoying part, though, was that while she put it down in every other word she said, she wasn't actually changing out of the dress. She was just bitching some more.

"It's a stupid dress." she growled back.

I stood from the plush sofa facing the dressing rooms and stomped closer to her door. "Then forget it. Change and we'll go." I snapped. I was more than ready to get out of the damn mall and away from the harping she-wolf. Glancing over at Rosalie, I rolled my eyes at the impassive look she was throwing my way.

She always made me feel like I was over-reacting.

Turning back as I heard a door opening, I froze when Leah came out. She was wearing the dress...a gold wrap dress with no straps that contoured to her body perfectly. It looked like someone had got a long gold piece of material and wrapped her up mummy-style. From breasts to knees.

Her hair was still pulled back into a ponytail, but I knew it would look great if she took it down. To top it off, her skin...while on a slightly more reddish tint, was still very golden. The dress made it seem to glow more. "You have to get that." I blurted out. I couldn't help it. She looked like a freaking model.

She shook her head. "It's stupid."

Now that I saw her face, it didn't seem to be backing up her words. So I made my voice firmer. "But you look GREAT, Leah. Like...awesome."

"She's right, Leah. You do look gorgeous." Rosalie added.

I watched in confusion as Leah smiled back happily, but still denied it. "Nah. I...gold isn't my color. And I have the perfect black dress for Carlilse and Esme's anniversary. It'll look..."

Tuning Leah out, I watched as a vision played behind my eyes. One of Leah at the party in a pretty, but very plain, black dress and black heels. The whole ensemble screamed 'funeral' and I couldn't allow that.

The second vision though, involved buying and returning the gold dress.

Coming back into the present...I realized the problem.

She couldn't afford the dress. No wonder she didn't want to change out of it. She probably absolutely loved it. But she talked crap because she knew she couldn't get it and wanted to save face.

But wait. Why did she think we brought her shopping? We would have bought it, of course. She didn't have to put on this whole little performance. We would...

And then I realized that Leah would never allow that.

Later, maybe. When she was more comfortable with us. But now, when it seemed like we were just the family of her boyfriend...it would seem like charity and Leah Clearwater didn't take charity.

Leah came back out of the dressing room then, wearing her jeans and tee-shirt and holding the dress carefully in her right hand. I smiled slightly, having the idea for her next Christmas present. She would have that dress, I vowed to myself.

And then I realized something else, and smiled again.

I liked Leah. Oh, I had respected Leah before. I was even grateful to her, for loving Jasper. But at the mall I realized that despite, or maybe because of, her stubborness, we may just become friends on our own. I liked this proud, noble side of her.