A/N: How are you all holding up? So many ofy ou screaming at Bella to read the letter.. she will.. just give her time...

Love to my lovely pre-reading ladies: Sandy, Mandi, Nikki & Dawn! To pixiekat who waves her beta fairy wand and makes everything sparkle... love you to the moon and back!

A little mix of tears and laughter... ENJOY!

Ch 38

BPOV

I was very thankful that the first few weeks of school kept me busy. Or maybe it was that I used school as an excuse to keep busy. It was hard to tell those first few weeks. Since it was my last year of school and I knew I'd have practicums and board certifications to study for but, my course load wasn't too bad. That was a good thing and bad thing. Good in that I had time to study, read, and stay caught up. Bad thing was it was easy to stay caught up with only a few classes which left too much time for my mind to wander. I couldn't go there; not now. So I made sure any down time was spent studying for boards.

This constant need I had to study also limited my contact with Alice. It wasn't that I was purposefully ignoring her; I was pretty much holing myself away from everyone. It made the tension that was simmering between us even worse. We had yet to talk about that blow-up we had a few weeks ago. We passed by each other, exchanged pleasantries before I hightailed it into my room to study. It wasn't hard to miss the look of pain and sadness in her eyes. I was just baffled as to how to bridge the gap that had grown between us.

As fate would have it, I didn't have to work to find a way to mend things with Alice. All it took was overhearing a conversation between her and Jasper. I was walking to my room when I heard some sniffling. Glancing at Alice's room I noticed that the door was open enough for me to look in and see what was going on.

It was rare for Alice to cry, it took a lot to get her to that point. They were sitting on her bed, Jasper's arms wrapped around her, comforting her. She sniffed a few times before she looked up at him. Her puffy eyes were a sure sign that she'd been crying for some time. My heart ached at seeing her in such pain and I felt like a bitch for not knowing that there was something going on with her.

"It's so hard to watch her, Jasper." She sniffled and I wondered who she was talking about.

"She's in pain, Ali. She's lost and confused. She doesn't know how to deal, so she's hiding. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't love you. The two of you have been friends for years. Talk to Bella, she'll listen."

My heart stuttered painfully knowing Alice was upset over me and our strained relationship, so much so that it caused her tears. My own eyes prickled and burned as I listened to more of their conversation.

"If I would've thought her being with Edward would've been a bad thing, I wouldn't have pushed her. She was just so upset over Quil and she blamed herself needlessly." Alice shook her head as she tried to stem her tears. "I just wanted the old Bella back." Jasper held her tighter as she sobbed.

The tears I held at bay overflowed and coursed down my cheeks. This crap had gone on longer than it needed to. Without shame, I pushed open her door. Jasper was the first to look up and instead of being greeted with anger, his lips curved in a slight smile. My foot hit the squeaky board in her room and that was when Alice looked up.

I took in her trembling chin, face streaked with tears, and without much thought, I launched myself onto her bed and hugged her tight. I wanted to speak, to say something, but at that moment, we were both too busy sobbing to speak coherently. We rocked each other back and forth. When I felt her hands in my hair, comforting me, I realized she had finally stopped crying, I had not. We had gone from comforting each other to my best friend holding me as my grief and pain finally found it's way out.

"I'm so sorry," we both said together. Our giggles filled the air and it made my heart light.

"Really, Alice. I should've never taken my anger out on you. I didn't have to start anything with Edward. It was just the stress of the summer ending that made me act that way." I sniffled and looked up at her.

She had a sad little smile on her face as she smoothed my hair away from my face.

"I understand, Bella, more than you know." She paused and I could've sworn that she had more to say, but instead she gave that sad smile. Not wanting to look for trouble I squeezed her hand to let her know that things would be fine with us.

"Are we going to be okay, Ali? I hated the silence between us."

Her smile got wider. "We're fine. It'll take more than a little fight to get rid of me." She pulled me close and hugged me. As the quiet and soothing silence descended in her room, my stomach decided to let out a growl worthy of a lion.

Both of us started laughing hysterically. The seriousness evaporated as our chuckles increased and we fell back on her bed clutching our stomachs. That was how Jasper found us, laughing and giggling over nothing, tears falling down our cheeks.

"Good to see you ladies kiss and make up," he drawled from the doorway. His bright blue eyes sparkling as he took us in acting like kids.

"Jazz, I've told you, Bella and I don't do that… anymore." She winked at me and that brought on a fresh round of laughter.

As if it had been planned, Alice and I began to make kissing and moaning noises while rolling around on the bed. Of course we couldn't keep it up too long before we got another attack of the giggles.

"You two are cruel," bemoaned Jasper. He was laughing as he walked away from the room.

As we lay there on the bed, breathless, I realized how light I felt. Ending this little spat with Alice was crucial to my survival and getting over Edward. But as I basked in the knowledge that everything was going to be okay between Alice and I, I worried getting over Edward would be a monumental task. One I didn't feel equipped to tackle.

A/N: Aww.. they kissed and made up! As Miss Pixie said: It's nice to see Alice take responsibility for her part! I know we all want B&E to get things rolling.. and they will.. but there is something Bella needs to do first... and its all starts next week!

Check out the FB group for TEASE ME BABY Saturdays! Also, I'm taking suggestions there (look for the post already started in the group) and in reviews for outtake and futuretake ideas.. share them!

Ok..share your thoughts.. You know how I love them... See ya next week...